Leaders weigh in on what OPS’ exit from NDA means for TN parties
O Panneerselvam exits the NDA, seeks alliances with DMK and Vijay's TVK, as Tamil Nadu's 2026 elections loom with shifting political dynamics.
O Panneerselvam (OPS), 74, after walking out of the NDA, for allegedly being cold shouldered by the BJP, held back to back meetings with Stalin on the day he quit the alliance and opened a dialogue channel with actor Vijay’s Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) which will make its debut in the 2026 assembly elections.
Next year’s elections is poised to be a crowded affair in Tamil Nadu with the incumbent DMK’s rainbow alliance intact which is part of the INDIA bloc, the AIADMK -led NDA, Tamil nationalist S Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) and Vijay’s TVK.
The availability of OPS, who has a weaning vote bank of the Thevar community, a caste dominant in southern Tamil Nadu, comes at a time when there is a crisis in other smaller regional parties such as Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). PMK, an ally of the NDA is falling apart from the inside with the father and party founder S Ramadoss in a coup taking over from his son and former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss. The father and son hold opposing views on joining the BJP. When the AIADMK walked out of the NDA in 2023, PMK chose to stick to the national party on the insistence of junior Ramadoss while his father has said he preferred to go with the AIADMK. Now that the AIADMK is back in the NDA’s fold since April,now the father and son are refusing to relent leaving the PMK in limbo.
Meanwhile the DMDK which took the AIADMK’s side when they parted with the BJP in 2023 has not confirmed if they will be part of the NDA after the two parties joined hands. DMDK’s chief Premalatha Vijayakant too met Stalin hours before OPS on Thursday. All of them, OPS, Vijayakant and the DMK have maintained that the opposition leaders called on Stalin at his residence to enquire about his health after he was hospitalised for a week and discharged on July 27. “I don’t know why OPS met him (Stalin) but that he has left the BJP means that finally good times have begun for OPS,” said Thol Thirumavalan, MP and chief of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), an ally of the DMK who has been describing BJP’s ideology as communal politics which must be discouraged.
Though the TVK said that they are not speaking on alliance, close aides of OPS said that the option is on the table. “The DMK hopes OPS will split the anti-incumbency votes as well as the Thevar votes,” a close aide of OPS said. OPS and other expelled AIADMK leaders TTV Dhinakaran and his aunt VK Sasikala also belong to the Thevar community whose votebank the BJP was keen to unite. Dhinakaran, who heads a break faction of the AIADMK, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) also joined the NDA ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. OPS and Dhinkaran came to the NDA’s fold when the AIADMK had broken away from the BJP. Now that the Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) AIADMK is back, it has been an uneasy alliance since he is steadfast not to take back the trio, that he expelled, into his party and has stayed clear of them.
“OPS has been sidelined obviously with the entry of the AIADMK,” his close aide said. “He prefers to join hands with Vijay.” A TVK leader however refuted speculation of talks between them. “We are focussed on public outreach now,” the leader said.
While TVK has offered parties a power sharing agreement and has taken on DMK as its political enemy and the BJP as its ideological enemy, Seeman’s NTK has refused to tie up with any of the Dravidian majors.
OPS’ exit also comes days after AIADMK’s Muslim face and former minister, Anwhar Raajhaa quit the party to join rival DMK saying that the AIADMK was “trapped in the BJP’s hands.” However, OPS’ journey has been different to that of Raajhaa since he was the BJP’s man when the AIADMK was in turbulent times after its leader J Jayalalithaa died in office.
“History knows that there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics. Things will change as elections approach,” OPS said. He should know given his tumultuous political life and constantly changing friends and foes in the AIADMK itself. OPS officiated as chief minister twice after Jayalalithaa gave him the position when she had to quit due to legal cases and her health. OPS has also acknowledged the role of RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy in his rebellion against EPS and Sasikala back in 2017. Eventually EPS and OPS joined hands and ran the government and party together as partners expelling Sasikala and Dhinakaran. In a few years, EPS expelled OPS too and he was forced to share space with Dhinakaran and Sasikala, who have been politically inactive.
OPS has been unhappy with the way he has been cold shouldered by the BJP after not receiving an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was in Tamil Nadu during the July 26 weekend and previously with Union home minister Amit Shah whenever he had visited the state. “OPS shouldn’t have left when we are trying to unite to defeat the DMK,” said a BJP leader not wishing to be named. “There is space for him and EPS in the alliance even if they don’t see eye to eye.”
