Life has come full circle for O Panneerselvam, who stood by as Chief Minister twice for the late J Jayalalithaa when she had to step down due to court cases. Six years after the ‘Marina Meditation’ which led to the beginning of his downfall, OPS has finally sought refuge in the V K Sasikala family against whom he rebelled in 2017.
On Monday, OPS met Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader T T V Dhinakaran – they had been quite harsh against each other during and after the rebellion – and both of them have now decided to “work together” to reclaim the AIADMK, which is presently controlled by Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Though OPS and TTV have lost much of their political clout in the past few years, their meeting is still significant in more ways than one. The fact that TTV’s AMMK scored over 5 per cent votes in 2019 and 2 per cent votes in 2021 elections – they are primarily AIADMK votes – cannot be brushed aside, political analysts told Deccan Herald.
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OPS, who was expelled from AIADMK in 2022, was exploring his options before seeking support from TTV. With the Supreme Court and the Election Commission too ruling in EPS’ favour, OPS had no option but to join TTV as they have the “same goal.”
The possibility of Sasikala also joining TTV and OPS will add more heft to their coming together as all three belong to the influential Mukulathor community, which has traditionally voted for the AIADMK. A section of the community is said to be upset with EPS’ complete control over the AIADMK and might rally behind the trio.
Sources said the BJP could be behind the OPS-TTV meeting as the saffron party makes an attempt to stitch a rainbow coalition under the leadership of the AIADMK to take on the DMK in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. With EPS categorically ruling out readmitting the three leaders into the AIADMK, the BJP is trying to bring the TTV-OPS-Sasikala combo as an alliance partner to prevent a split of anti-DMK and opposition votes.
“We believe AIADMK and leaders who were expelled from the party are one unit. While we don’t want to interfere in the internal affairs of the party, we are trying to tell EPS that accommodating the trio into the alliance will only strengthen the combine,” a senior BJP leader told DH. A similar attempt by the BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly polls ended in failure.
The BJP leader said though the elections are a year away, the efforts to bring TTV and OPS to the alliance are being made now to prevent a repeat of the 2021 failure. “A rainbow alliance of AIADMK and its factions, PMK, BJP, and other smaller parties is our plan for 2024. We will also seek more seats from the five we contested in 2019,” the leader added.
BJP sources said while OPS enjoys a good rapport with leaders of the party, TTV may also be not averse to doing business with the saffron party as he has already indicated that he will align with a national party for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.