At a time when an isolated and friend-less O Panneerselvam is in desperate need of allies, a hoarding and an advertisement in Tamil Nadu over the past couple of days – coinciding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state for the launch of the Chess Olympiad – have set the state abuzz. The huge hoarding, which came up in Kancheepuram, featured a smiling OPS along with life-size images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The advertisement, across two full pages, appeared in an English daily on Friday, containing a profile of OPS along with a photo featuring him with J Jayalalithaa and another of him with Modi, with an image in the middle from the Ramayana of Bharat at Lord Ram's feet. The text below called OPS “the true loyalist” of Jayalalithaa. Tamil Nadu politicians generally see little value in putting out advertisements in English dailies, and hence OPS's choice of publication didn't seem a coincidence. Nor did there seem a confusion about the message OPS wanted to convey: that he still keeps company in high places. The message couldn't be more timely. He might be still battling in the Supreme Court, but OPS has virtually lost control of the AIADMK, having been stripped of posts and locked out of its premises. R Vaithilingam, a former AIADMK deputy coordinator who was ousted from the party for supporting OPS, denied they were behind the hoarding featuring Modi and Shah. "We cannot afford to have such a hoarding. Modi and Shah belong to another party. Somebody must have put it up without thinking about the political implications," he told The Indian Express. The senior BJP duo evoke mixed reactions in Tamil Nadu, with many seeing them as interlopers who had used the AIADMK to get a foothold in the state when it was vulnerable following Jayalalithaa's death. About the advertisement in the English daily, on a day Modi was in Chennai, Vaithilingam said there was nothing wrong with the same. "Modi’s picture was meant to capture the long political journey of OPS," he said. However, while Modi and Shah may have sided with OPS and his now-rival E Palaniswami in the AIADMK leadership tussle after Jayalalithaa's death, they are unlikely to bail OPS out from his latest crisis, given how the scales are completely weighed against him. A top source close to OPS said he had tried to meet Modi Thursday night during his stay at Raj Bhavan. "He wasn’t given the appointment at Raj Bhavan for a private meeting. Instead, he was told to meet the PM at the airport," the source said. A key change within the state's BJP-RSS leadership has also gone against OPS. During the 2017 power tussle, RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy was believed to have mentored every move of OPS, watched over from Delhi. But the new BJP leadership in the state, led by a young K Annamalai, is more independent, taking decisions from a political rather than a tactical viewpoint. Hence, he has been clear about developing a cordial relationship with the AIADMK leadership, or in other words EPS. A senior BJP leader said: "Annamalai takes his allies into confidence. He realises that a confrontational path will not take one anywhere. He has been talking to EPS since this latest AIADMK crisis started. The BJP knows that the party is with EPS now, not OPS. Why should we go and rescue OPS then?" The other quarter where OPS expected help was V K Sasikala, with EPS seen as the main stumbling block in her return to the AIADMK. But Sasikala, whose long court ordeals has left her wary of political risks, has not taken any sides so far. OPS has not had any luck with AIADMK cadres either, including those belonging to his own OBC community, Thevar, who are based in southern Tamil Nadu. Ironically, if there was one party that provided a reprieve to OPS, however short-lived, it was the DMK. The Madras High Court eventually pulled up the ruling party for not taking action when OPS supporters tried to occupy the AIADMK headquarters forcibly.
