BJP comes closer to new allies in Tamil Nadu: Former AIADMK leaders Dhinakaran and OPS

On Panneerselvam or OPS, Dhinakaran said they had decided to work together and were taking steps towards that.

A former MP and AIADMK strongman, Dhinakaran was expelled from the AIADMK in 2017 along with his aunt V K Sasikala — who was a close aide of the late CM J Jayalalithaa — by the current AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) for anti-party activities.

In December 2017, Dhinakaran had indicated his continuing clout by winning Chennai’s Radhakrishnan Nagar Assembly constituency bypoll by a record margin. The seat had fallen vacant after Jayalalithaa’s demise.

A year later, Dhinakaran had floated his own party AMMK, a breakaway faction of the AIADMK.

In its debut election in 2019, the party had entered into a poll pact with the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), but failed to win any seat. In the 2021 Assembly elections as well, Dhinakaran continued his association with the SDPI, this time with the addition of Captain Vijayakanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, but the alliance proved to be a dud, failing to win any seat.

But in the three years since that election, things have changed. OPS, who ran a campaign against Dhinakaran called Dharma Yutham in 2017, accusing him and Sasikala of having control over the party affairs, is now desperately seeking Dhinakaran’s support. This, after his repeated calls for a united AIADMK found no takers, and after the Madras High Court a week ago again dismissed his appeal, over the use of the AIADMK’s flag, election symbol and letterhead.

In May 2023, the expelled leaders of the AIADMK met at Dhinakaran’s residence and informed the media that they will have a ‘working arrangement’ similar to the CPI and CPI(M) to defeat their common enemy DMK and to “rescue” the AIADMK “from the clutches of those who had no connection with the fundamentals of the organisation”.

Addressing the media together after the meeting, the duo claimed it was time to forget the past and move forward.

Three months later in August 2023, the duo came together to stage an agitation in Theni, condemning the ruling DMK for the undue delay in bringing the culprits in the 2017 murder-cum-heist case at Kodanad, Jayalalithaa’s farmhouse, to book. The Palaniswami-led AIADMK described the agitation as “drama” and the alliance between OPS and Dhinakaran as “opportunistic”.

With the AIADMK having severed its ties with the BJP, and declared that it won’t join hands with the party either for the Lok Sabha polls or the 2026 Assembly polls, the BJP, Dhinakaran and OPS seem to be exploring a third front. Given the weakened position of OPS, the BJP could have a commanding role in such an alliance.

On paper, an alliance between Dhinakaran and OPS, both of whom belong to the dominant backward community Mukkulathor, of southern Tamil Nadu, can cause significant damage to the vote banks of the Dravidian majors, particularly the EPS-led AIADMK.

While Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai is keeping his cards close to his chest and not ruling out any alliance possibilities, OPS has been claiming that he has been in constant touch with the BJP leaders.

A senior BJP leader said the central leadership will take a final call on the alliance, but reports of Dhinakaran and O PS joining it could not be ruled out. “Anyone who accepts Modiji as the Prime Minister and is willing to work for the betterment of the nation is welcome to join us. We are not ruling out any possibilities, but the final decision will be taken only by the high command in Delhi. We are confident that the inclusion of several other parties will strengthen our alliance,” he said.