Back in 2001, when the late J Jayalalithaa was forced to step down as Chief Minister, she had announced her party MLA from Periyakulam as her successor at a press conference at the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai. In those pre-Google days, journalists at the press conference scrambled to find out who he was. "OPS", as O Panneerselvam would later be known, had done little to attract the limelight. He was a first-time MLA and also the revenue minister, but few outside the party even knew him.
Since then, he was the perennial "stand-in" - filling the Chief Minister's chair in 2001 and again in 2014, when Jayalalithaa faced legal convictions. He wasn't chosen for his mass appeal, talent, or political acumen, but for his proximity to Jayalalithaa's long-time aide, VK Sasikala.
Propped up as a "rubber stamp" loyalist, OPS was deemed safe by the Sasikala clan, whom Jayalalithaa famously kept at arm's length when it came to actual power. She found the Sasikala family, including her nephew TTV Dhinakaran, far too ambitious to be made a fill-in for her.
The Shift from OPS to EPS
While OPS, hailing from the OBC Thevar community, was an asset to the AIADMK, the Sasikala clan and OPS' standing within the party began to erode even before Jayalalithaa died in December 2016, according to longtime observers.
Observers note that after her return to office in 2016, Jayalalithaa grew disillusioned with the Sasikala faction's governance. She began leaning on Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), a leader from the OBC Gounder community in Western Tamil Nadu, who was viewed as transparent in financial dealings and a steadfast party loyalist since MGR's time in the 1970s. EPS was first elected to the state assembly in 1989, unlike OPS, who emerged only in 2001.
However, publicly, OPS was the only leader in the party whom Jayalalithaa herself had appointed Chief Minister.
Hence, soon after Jayalalithaa's demise, OPS briefly claimed the chief minister mantle, rebelled against Sasikala, but, when the dust settled, the party's financial and organisational machinery consolidated behind EPS. But OPS did have a faction, and EPS had to accommodate him as deputy chief minister. The EPS-OPS combine lost in 2021, and when OPS tried to outwit EPS and take over the party, EPS dealt a decisive blow, expelling OPS from the party in 2022 and asserting undisputed control.
This is why EPS, in 2026, put his foot down against the re-entry of OPS into the NDA fold. He did not want the alliance to have two former chief ministers and hence create the optics of a challenge to himself, according to AIADMK leaders.
But what does all this mean for DMK?
One of the big messages from the NDA in these polls, when the Prime Minister held his rally at Maduranthakam a few weeks ago, was that they had built an alliance. Getting TTV Dhinakaran and his AMMK (bitter rival to EPS), Anbumani Ramadoss and his PMK on the stage with Edappadi Palaniswami and the Prime Minister was meant to portray unity and a big alliance. The NDA tried hard for Premalatha Vijayakanth's DMDK to come on board and would have liked O Panneerselvam as well.
But, in a blow to the NDA, the DMDK decided to tango with the DMK. OPS was out in the cold and vulnerable with little choice but to align with the DMK. Perhaps the only way that he could remain relevant or get his son and former MP to win a seat.
Was TVK an option for OPS? Maybe, but with another rival from the AIADMK, KA Sengottayan, cementing himself there, there was no place for OPS.
OPS' move towards the DMK camp is less about "game-changing" electoral math and more about optics. It is just one seat - Bodinayakanur - that the DMK will give to OPS. He already has a presence there and is a formidable force with the DMK behind him. For that one seat, the DMK gets the optics of securing a former chief minister - handpicked by Jayalalithaa herself - sending a perception that the erstwhile AIADMK fragments have splintered away.
Further, in the Thevar stronghold of Theni, OPS provides a small but incremental boost. While the DMK already has a strong former AIADMK leader there in its fold (the party MP Thanga Tamil Selvan) OPS' presence helps counter TTV Dhinakaran's AMMK, which is now aligned with the NDA.
In Tamil Nadu, "chemistry" (personality and ideology) is as important as "arithmetic" (the aggregation of a coalition).
By adding OPS alongside the DMDK, the DMK is projecting an image of an ever-expanding, inclusive front.
The Bottom Line
For Chief Minister MK Stalin, bringing OPS into the fold is a low-risk, high-reward bargain. It shows the DMK is all out to bring in every bit it can as Vijay's TVK threatens to disrupt traditional vote banks.
Stalin is leaving nothing to chance. For the moment, the optics and arithmetic of a huge alliance are with the DMK. The only worry for Stalin is whether the Congress will rock the boat.
It is perhaps as insurance against such a break-up that Stalin is expanding his alliance vigorously. And, for the moment, the optics and arithmetic seem formidable, too.
(The author is Executive Editor, NDTV)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
