OPS Had Only One Way To Survive And He Has Taken It

When O. Panneerselvam walked into the DMK headquarters on Friday (27 February) morning and signed the membership form in front of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, the three-time chief minister and lifelong AIADMK loyalist crossed the most consequential line of his five-decade political career.

This was not a choice born of conviction. It was a choice born of elimination. The last door left open in a corridor where every other one had been slammed shut over the past three years.

OPS, as Tamil Nadu knows him, described it as a "painful political journey." That is an understatement.

Consider where he stood not so long ago. Jayalalithaa had trusted him more than any other leader in the AIADMK, making him the acting chief minister three times: in 2001, 2014, and 2016. She once called him "the loyalist." He rose to become the party's coordinator and treasurer, a man who had held every position from branch secretary to the topmost post.

When Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran attempted to seize control of the party after Jayalalithaa's passing, it was OPS who mounted a dramatic public rebellion, the Dharmayudham, that became one of the most watched political spectacles in the state's recent history.

He won that battle. But the man who emerged as the real winner was Edappadi K. Palaniswami.

EPS, initially seen as a placeholder chief minister, consolidated power with a quiet ruthlessness that OPS never saw coming. He built alliances with the party cadre across the state, something OPS, despite his seniority, had never managed to do.

OPS's base remained largely confined to his home district of Theni and pockets of southern Tamil Nadu where the Mukkulathor community, his caste, is present in significant numbers. He was respected for his closeness to Jayalalithaa. But respect and power are not the same thing, and EPS understood this better than most.

In 2022, EPS expelled him from the AIADMK, along with loyalists like R. Vaithilingam, Paul Manoj Pandian, and Panruti Ramachandran.

That was when the doors started closing.

Door one: the AIADMK. OPS challenged his expulsion legally, in the courts and before the Election Commission of India. He lost at every turn. He launched the AIADMK Cadres' Rights Retrieval Association, rebranded it, held meetings, made appeals.

In January, he publicly declared he was ready to rejoin the AIADMK without conditions, offering to merge his faction back. EPS did not flinch. The doors, he said, were shut. According to a report by Outlook from December, OPS even attempted to use the BJP as a channel to negotiate his re-entry into the AIADMK, but Palaniswami remained unrelenting.

Door two: the BJP. OPS aligned with the BJP and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Ramanathapuram. He lost, but his caste vote held. He polled around 30 per cent, demonstrating that he remained a useful political asset.

But when the BJP and AIADMK renewed their alliance for the 2026 Assembly polls, OPS became a problem the BJP could not solve without upsetting EPS. He was not invited to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to Tamil Nadu. In August, a bitter OPS withdrew from the NDA, saying he had been "insulted."

Door three: TTV Dhinakaran. In 2023, OPS reconciled with his old rival Dhinakaran, and together they added heft to the BJP's presence in southern Tamil Nadu. When both left the NDA in 2025, there was speculation they would fight elections together, or join actor Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. A former AIADMK colleague, K. Sengottaiyan, had already joined the TVK.

But Dhinakaran returned to the NDA fold. EPS's principal rivalry was always with OPS, not with Dhinakaran, and he accepted the latter back. Dhinakaran had demonstrated his capacity to damage the AIADMK in the 2021 elections and was better kept inside the tent.

Door four: Vijay's TVK. With Dhinakaran gone and the BJP out of reach, the TVK remained a theoretical option. But OPS was a three-time chief minister. Joining a fledgling party built merely on star power would have been a step down in stature he was unlikely to take.

Door five: going it alone. Without the AIADMK's iconic "two leaves" symbol, OPS had discovered that his personal standing alone could not deliver electoral victories. His own supporters were deserting him.

Vaithilingam and Manoj Pandian resigned their MLA posts and joined the DMK months before him. Ramachandran formed a separate party, saying he could wait no longer for OPS to make up his mind. A former AIADMK MLA who defected told The Federal that OPS's "indecisiveness wasn't just a personal flaw, it was something that dragged down his entire camp."

That left only one door. The DMK.

Speculation about a switch began when OPS "accidentally" ran into Stalin during a morning walk a few months ago. He dismissed the rumours at the time. But the feelers continued.

Then came the catalyst. P. Ayyappan, OPS's supporter and the Usilampatti MLA, stood up in the Assembly and praised the DMK government, declaring that Stalin should return to power "with the blessings of MGR and Jayalalithaa." Even DMK ministers could not suppress their smiles at the irony. The video went viral. OPS met Stalin that very day. Within days, the deal was done.

On Friday, he arrived at the party headquarters with his son Ravindhranath and supporters. He wore a wristband bearing the DMK's colours. Praising Stalin's governance, he said he was happy to join the Thaai Kazhagam, the mother party, started by Annadurai. He called EPS an "autocrat" who had created a situation where the AIADMK may never achieve electoral success again.

For Stalin, the gains are significant. A former chief minister crossing from the AIADMK projects an image of dominance. OPS brings a slice of the Mukkulathor vote bank in the southern districts (Madurai, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga) that could help counter the NDA in a region where anti-DMK sentiment has traditionally run strong.

With the 2026 elections approaching and the Vijay factor threatening to scramble calculations, every percentage point matters. And it tightens the DMK's grip on Theni, one of the few remaining anti-DMK strongholds.

For OPS, this is about survival. Pure and uncomplicated. He will likely retain his Bodinayakanur Assembly seat. His son's political future is secure. He may be given a ministerial berth, or perhaps the Speaker's chair given his stature and age.

It is not a glamorous ending for a man who once sat on a Dharmayudham. But in politics, survival has always counted for more than sentiment. OPS had one way left, and he has taken it.