He was known as the permanent stand-in: the substitute who was a pale shadow of the original. O Paneerselvam (74), a man who was ‘caretaker’ Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu twice in 2001 and 2014, when Jayalalithaa had to step down for legal reasons, and a ‘full-fledged’ Chief Minister upon her death in 2016, all for brief periods measurable in months, owed his rise in politics mostly to chance and circumstances. And loyalty to his leader, Jayalalithaa.
Although seen as a trusted lieutenant of Jayalalithaa and her friend Sasikala, he has been in the political wilderness for the last two years, coming up as a poor second in the power struggle in the AIADMK.
While his loyalty bordered on servility during the lifetime of Jayalalithaa, his ego got a fresh lease of life subsequent to her death. Evidently, he could not accept the fact that the BJP, with which he allied on his expulsion from the AIADMK that was taken over by Edappadi Palaniswami at the end of the Jayalalithaa era, did not reward him as Jayalalithaa would have.
Despite having fought the 2024 Lok Sabha election as a constituent of the NDA, he was denied an audience with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, when they visited the state in July. Neither Modi nor Shah wanted to offend Palaniswami, who agreed on the alliance with the BJP on the assurance that the breakaway groups of the AIADMK would be kept out of the NDA.
Peeved by the “betrayal” by the Sangh Parivar, Panneerselvam not only left the NDA, but also met up with AIADMK’s arch rival, DMK chief and state Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday.
But, would it revive his career prospects?
After being expelled from the AIADMK, OPS, as he is called, started a committee and was a part of the NDA. He was always proud of his BJP links, even when he was in the AIADMK. But the support of the party cadres stayed with the faction led by Palaniswami.
OPS can only be a minor player in the DMK alliance, which has a settled look with the Congress and the Left parties and the VCK of Dalit leader Thol Thirumavalavan, besides the IUML. But in his search for political relevance, he is prepared to do anything to undermine Palaniswami. Another option is to align with TVK, the party of actor Vijay. But since his primary objective is to prevent Palaniswami from becoming the CM again, the DMK is the best bet.
Paneerselvam first met Chief Minister MK Stalin during the morning walk at the Theosophical Society and again visited him at his home in the evening on Thursday.
Although he enjoys some support among the Thevar caste in the southern districts, this is nowhere near enough to make him a spoiler in the Assembly election. The BJP state president Nainar Nagendran is also from the Thevar caste and the AIADMK counts sections of it among the party's traditional support base.
Whatever OPS manages to do from hereon will have a great impact on his political career, but is unlikely to cause ripples in Tamil Nadu politics.
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