Opinion O Panneerselvam returns, to serve his revenge cold

It seemed the end of his political career when he was expelled from the AIADMK in February, but former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, it seems, is close to completing nothing short of a coup on his nemesis VK Sasikala.

AIADMK, AIADMK merger, O Panneerselvam, Sasikala, Panneerselvam Sasikala, OPS faction, Edapaddi Palaniswami, Tamil Nadu, TN government, Sasikala, Jayalalithaa death, Indian Express, India news

Kanishka Singh

New DelhiApril 22, 2017 09:02 PM IST First published on: Apr 22, 2017 at 03:37 PM IST

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Pannerselvam (left) and jailed VK Sasikala

It seemed the end of his political career when he was expelled from the AIADMK in February, but former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, it seems, is close to completing nothing short of a coup on his nemesis VK Sasikala. Reports suggest that the merger of the two rival factions of the AIADMK is nearly complete and OPS may be given back his old position as CM. Chief Minister E Palaniswami is expected to be given the post of party head as the formal expulsion of jailed party chief Sasikala and her nephew Dinakaran comes closer.

The imminent merger comes as a resurrection of OPS’ stature as one of the tallest and seniormost leaders in the party. He didn’t gain the support of a lot of people in the party in the initial weeks when he formed his own group, but credit to him, he kept his unit tight.

In contrast, Sasikala was unable to do the same for a long time as she was convicted and running the party with a tight grip from inside prison hasn’t proved to be all that easy. Adding to her woes, her nephew and party deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran was booked recently for allegedly bribing officials of the Election Commission. The R.K. Nagar fracas was another incident that hit the credibility and image of the ruling faction.

OPS has kept at his demand that Jayalalithaa’s death must be probed and that Sasikala and her family should be kept away from the party affairs as Amma did. Since she was first jailed in mid 1990s, OPS was the entrusted deputy for late Jayalalithaa whenever she had to vacate her position temporarily. After her death, OPS was elected leader of the AIADMK legislature party overnight and his quick swearing-in had hinted there were signs of turmoil in the then headless party.

The two power centres in the party slowly became prominent. Afterwards, Sasikala was made the party’s general secretary, most of the MLAs and delegates started leaning to her camp. Thus began the process of OPS’ ouster. According to OPS, Sasikala had humiliated him in front of the MLAs and forced him to resign from his position. He had then vowed to take revenge.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Health Minister C Vijayabaskar may be removed from the cabinet. The Income Tax department had raided his properties and that led to talk of gross voter bribing in R.K. Nagar bypoll in Tamil Nadu. He is also the leader who had arranged for the resort lockdown of MLAs as ordered by Sasikala to prevent OPS from luring them away to his camp.

The government is in a delicate situation and due to a loss of face and a variety of self destructive moves, the ruling faction has lost the support of the elected MLAs. There are currently 122 MLAs with the ruling faction. If after more defections, the number falls below 117, the government will fall.

It seems clear that the ruling faction is in a difficult situation and has thus had to ask help from OPS. But, for OPS, this will be the revenge he would’ve been waiting for since the day he was expelled.