Journalism of Courage
Rebel AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam, or OPS, announced Friday that his faction will field a candidate for the forthcoming by-election for the Erode East Assembly constituency. Despite being removed from his post as party coordinator and losing his party membership in July 2022, OPS still claims to be the coordinator of the party.
OPS also spoke of his AIADMK faction supporting the BJP if the latter decided to enter the contest. He added that they have decided to back the BJP even in the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024, as it is a national party. OPS is also expected to get the support of other rebel AIADMK leaders V K Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran, both of whom were kicked out of the party, which is now controlled by Edappadi K Palaniswami, or EPS, the state Opposition leader and former Chief Minister.
Since he was removed from the AIADMK and lost his power and party membership, OPS has been trying to bring people into his camp over the last few months.
A statement from the OPS camp on Saturday said that a group of party leaders will meet Tamil Manila Congress president G K Vasan, BJP state president K Annamalai, PMK founder S Ramadoss, John Pandian of Thamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, and M Jaganmoorthy of Puratchi Bharatham, to talk about the latest decision.
Even though the forthcoming by-election initially appeared to be easy sailing for the ruling DMK — a candidate of the DMK ally Congress was the incumbent in the seat, which has a large minority vote — OPS’s decision to put up a candidate will not only split AIADMK votes but will also be a challenge to the state BJP leadership, which was planning to put its own candidate in Erode East for a friendly fight with their ally AIADMK as part of its strategy to revive the party.
A senior AIADMK leader from the area, who is close to the EPS faction, said OPS is again trying to cause trouble. “He is trying to destroy himself and harm the party that sacked him months ago. Even if allies like the BJP and the PMK run on their own in this election, they won’t work with the OPS faction because it would be suicidal for them and for their alliance. “There is no doubt that the AIADMK is strong and united under the leadership of EPS,” the leader said. He also said OPS’s actions show that he can’t accept he is no longer an AIADMK member.
OPS, who spoke to the media on Saturday, said EPS and he were both chosen to be AIADMK’s supreme leaders in 2021. “I’ll be in charge of the party until 2026, and we’ll run under the symbol of two leaves (in the bypoll),” he said. When asked if both EPS and OPS would sign the nomination papers for a party candidate together, OPS said he was ready to do so and that EPS “has to decide what he would do”.
In the last six months, OPS has tried several means to get back into the party, including through negotiations via the BJP national leadership. However, unlike in the past, the BJP has directed the state unit to tread cautiously, as EPS has majority support among the AIADMK party machinery and he continues to stand by his position that OPS will not be taken back into the party.
