Just three days ago, after paying homage to former chief minister J Jayalalithaa on her birth anniversary, the ousted AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam, or OPS, declared he would not join any political party or launch one. Cut to Friday morning, he crossed over to the rival DMK.
With the assembly polls around the corner, the veteran politician, 75, was fast running out of options.
He had been dropping hints.
This was not their first meeting. Nearly seven months ago, the two had met during Stalin’s morning walk at the Theosophical Society in Adyar, and later at his residence in Alwarpet.
It was around that time that OPS broke up with the BJP, which had by then struck an electoral deal with the AIADMK led by Edappadi K Palaniswami.
O Panneerselvam’s political pivot towards the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam appears to be the outcome of a series of closed doors within both the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the National Democratic Alliance, according to sources familiar with the developments.
Sources indicate that OPS had been actively exploring a return to the NDA fold in recent months. However, those conversations came with a clear condition from the former AIADMK coordinator. He was willing to come back into the alliance only through a formal re-entry into the AIADMK, the party he once helped lead alongside late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
That pathway, however, was firmly blocked.
AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami is learnt to have conveyed strong reservations about OPS’ return, citing lingering factional rivalries and unresolved political differences within the party. The EPS camp has remained consistent in its position that there is no scope for a reconciliation at this stage.
With the AIADMK option effectively ruled out, the NDA is understood to have explored alternative formulas to keep OPS within its broader political tent. According to sources, the Bharatiya Janata Party offered him an independent seat arrangement similar to the model adopted during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In that election, OPS had contested from Ramanathapuram as an Independent candidate with NDA backing.
However, OPS was reportedly reluctant to repeat that experiment.
Sources say he was looking for a more formal political rehabilitation rather than another independent run supported from the outside. The BJP is also learnt to have sounded out the possibility of accommodating him through another NDA ally, but OPS was not keen on that route either.
It was after these options narrowed that backchannel conversations between OPS and the DMK began to gather momentum.
Political observers note that the timing reflects a pragmatic recalibration by both sides – OPS seeking political relevance ahead of upcoming electoral battles, and the DMK potentially looking to expand its social and regional outreach.
According to DMK sources, the broad understanding is that OPS will be accommodated with one seat. The party is said to have left the choice of candidate to the Panneerselvam family, meaning the final decision on whether OPS himself contests or fields his son will be taken internally by them.
While formal announcements are awaited, the development signals another significant realignment in Tamil Nadu’s fluid political landscape, underscoring how personal rivalries within the AIADMK continue to reshape alliance arithmetic in the state.