O Panneerselvam to work with Sasikala, Dhinakaran to 'strengthen AIADMK'

It was OPS’ rebellion in 2017 that led to a split in the AIADMK with Sasikala choosing Palaniswami, then a lightweight, as the chief minister

Life has come full circle for O Panneerselvam, who was hand-picked by late J Jayalalithaa to stand by as chief minister twice when she had to quit due to court cases. The former chief minister has now extended a hand of friendship to V K Sasikala and T T V Dhinakaran, against whom he led a rebellion in 2017 following which Edappadi K Palaniswami shot into the limelight.

The Madras High Court verdict restoring him as the coordinator of AIADMK is certainly a temporary reprieve, but Panneerselvam knows that the decision-making forums in the party are controlled by his rival camp led by Palaniswami. And that is the reason he is now looking to join hands with Sasikala, whom he views as his last trump card.

In fact, it was Panneerselvam’s rebellion in 2017 that led to a split in the AIADMK with Sasikala choosing Palaniswami, then a lightweight, as the chief minister. However, he and Palaniswami joined hands within a few months even as Sasikala was cooling her heels at the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru.

Read | Will soon meet Sasikala, Dhinakaran to unite AIADMK: Panneerselvam

Five years later, Palaniswami, using his brute majority in party forums, got Panneerselvam expelled from the AIADMK, forcing the latter to seek refuge with Sasikala and Dhinakaran.

“Panneerselvam has no choice but to join Sasikala and TTV. He can’t mobilise support from people or cadres without the two as the entire party is still controlled by the Palaniswami camp. We hope that many leaders will join our camp once Sasikala and TTV give their support to Panneerselvam,” a senior leader associated with Panneerselvam told DH.

Panneerselvam is likely to meet Sasikala, and Dhinakaran seeking their support in “uniting” the AIADMK which is now split into several factions. Though he had been warming up to the aunt-nephew duo for about an year, Panneerselvam dropped the clearest hint of working with Sasikala and TTV on Saturday.

Dhinakaran appeared to support Panneerselvam when he said on Monday that everyone’s wish was to see “convergence” of all AIADMK leaders to take on the DMK. However, Dhinakaran said he interpreted OPS’ “unity” call as all AIADMK factions coming together on “one platform” and not a merger of his AMMK with the parent party.

Whether Panneerselvam gets support from party cadre remains to be seen as the reprieve he got from the High Court is just temporary – a division bench has reserved orders on a petition filed by Palaniswami challenging a single judge’s order restoring status quo in AIADMK as on June 23, 2022.