Chennai, Feb 27 (PTI) Three-time AIADMK Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who held top party positions before his expulsion in 2022, on Friday joined the DMK in the presence of its president and Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin in what is seen as a shot in the arm for the ruling party ahead of the elections.
A trusted confidant of late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, Ottakara Thevar Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS, joined arch rival DMK, after unsuccessfully struggling for over three years to rejoin his parent outfit.
“Are you not embarrassed,” asked the AIADMK, highlighting OPS’s meteoric rise in the party and underscored that he had even been the official signing authority to endorse the candidature of party nominees in elections.
Seventy-five year old OPS, a prominent face of the influential Mukkulathor community, who had functioned as AIADMK Treasurer and also held the erstwhile top position of party coordinator, joined the DMK along with his son, P Ravindhranath Kumar and supporters including, MLA P Ayyappan.
OPS joining the DMK is expected to strengthen the ruling party more in southern districts where the Mukkulathor community wields solid electoral influence.
Incidentally, the Bodinayakanur (Theni dt) MLA is the last man in his camp to move out while his prominent supporters including V Vaithilingam and PH Manoj Pandian had already joined the DMK.
Others including JCD Prabhakar joined the TVK. Rajya Sabha MP R Dharmar and Vellamandi N Natarajan are the noted OPS supporters to accept the leadership of AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami. Natarajan joined the ranks of Palaniswami on Friday.
Both OPS and Ayyappan (elected in 2021 as AIADMK candidates) later met officials of the Assembly Secretariat and submitted letters resigning from their MLA posts.
Since last month, following a meeting between OPS and minister PK Sekar Babu, speculation has been rife that the ex-CM will join the DMK. Adding to the speculations, OPS supporter Ayyappan days ago expressed confidence in the TN Assembly that Stalin-led government would be re-elected.
OPS himself said on February 20 that the DMK has the edge and it would win the upcoming Assembly polls and he had met CM Stalin in Secretariat. In fact, the chances of OPS joining the DMK became a talking point from last year itself, after his meetings with Stalin following snapping of ties with the NDA.
On Friday, Sekar Babu, who is himself an ex-AIADMK leader, accompanied Panneerselvam to DMK headquarters ‘Anna Arivalayam’. Now, speculations are doing the rounds that OPS or his son would be given a ‘plum post’ if the DMK retains power.
A party worker soon after the AIADMK’s founding in 1972, he had been the chief minister thrice (2001-02, 2014-15 and 2016-17) and had held plum portfolios including finance, revenue and public works in his long stint in the governments led by the AIADMK. A 5-time MLA, the first public office he held was that of Periyakulam Municpality chairman in Theni district in southern Tamil Nadu in 1996.
Beginning his life as a tea shop owner in Theni, he became the chief minister for the first time at the age of 40 years in 2001, when he became MLA for the first time, after Jayalalithaa had to step down as CM in the TANSI land deal case. Subsequently, he became the CM in 2014 after Jayalalithaa was convicted in a disproportionate assets case. Again, he was the CM after her death in 2016.
He launched a ‘Dharmayudham’ in February 2017 alleging he was forced to quit as CM and eventually joined hands with Palaniswami-led faction and they together eased out Jayalalithaa’s confidante VK Sasikala and her kin from the party. Unassuming and modest, OPS had also briefly served as Leader of Opposition after DMK formed the government in 2006 and later, he had been the deputy LoP.
In his stint in the government, he had also been the Leader of the House and he had been the deputy chief minister between 2017 and 2021. After his expulsion, he floated the AIADMK Workers’ Rights Retrieval Committee which in December 2025 was rechristened as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Workers Rights Retrieval Kazhagam.
Speaking to reporters, Panneerselvam expressed happiness in joining the DMK, and said it protects the Dravidian ideology and it is the right party for Tamil Nadu’s development. He committed himself to work for the DMK’s development. He described DMK as the parent outfit of the Dravidian ideology and said he was joining it with joy.
OPS recalled that he was praised as “Pachai Tamizhar Panneerselvam” (real Tamilian Panneerselvam) by late DMK chief M Karunanidhi. Stalin praised OPS as cultured and humble and welcomed him to the DMK.
The former CM hit out at AIADMK general secretary Palaniswami as an “autocrat” and “arrogant”‘ who has created a situation of “no-victory” for the AIADMK at all times. He was leading the party towards “destruction” and paying attention in “finishing off” the career of AIADMK leaders from southern districts. Panneerselvam is from southern TN.
To a question, Panneeerselvam said he was not concerned about the past and that he would from now on abide by Stalin’s diktat.
AIADMK leaders including KP Munusamy slammed OPS for his move. The former minister said Panneerselvam even once praised Karunanidhi. Panneerselvam was a very big “selfish person” who had no principles. PTI VGN VGN SA
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