OPS Meets CM At Home, AIADMK Cadre Rejoice

Chennai: Former AIADMK chief Minister O Panneerselvam, heading the breakaway group called ‘AIDMK Cadre’s rights retrieval committee’ after his expulsion from the party in July 2022 but claiming to be part of the NDA, called on Chief Minister M K Stalin at his house on Thursday after officially walking out of the BJP-led alliance, triggering open celebrations by AIADMK cadre all over the State.

Emerging from the 40-minute meeting with the Chief Minister, Panneerselvam, accompanied by supporters like P H Manoj Pandian, O P Ravindranath and Gopalakrishnan, told waiting media persons that it was a courtesy call to convey his condolences to Stalin, who lost his eldest brother M K Muthu on July 19, and that no politics was discussed.

Asked if he would join the DMK-led alliance, he said that such decisions would be taken only before the elections that were about a year away. However, speculations over Panneerselvam aligning with the DMK have been making their rounds since morning after he had a brief meeting with Stalin at the Theosophical Society premises.

Though it was sought to be dismissed as a chance encounter during his morning walk by his acolytes, Panneerselvam, when was asked about it at media meet addressed by the top members of his retrieval committee, Panruti Ramachandra, to announce the decision to snap ties with the NDA, said that he usually went for a walk in the same premises when in Chennai.

He bumped into the Chief Minister by accident and enquired about his health as he was recently hospitalized, Pannnerselvam, who was with Ramachandran but deflected all questions on the severing of ties with NDA to the party colleague, said.

However, within hours he was at the Chief Minister’s residence, where his team was welcomed at the entrance by Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin. Even as the team was holding talks inside with the Chief Minister, AIADMK cadre all over the State broke into celebrations rejoicing over what they described as ‘good riddance.’

The mood in the AIADMK was one of jubilation as the functionaries felt that a thorn in the flesh of the party has been removed. They felt that it would put an end to the court cases that the party is fighting over the claims of Panneerselvam, who still calls himself the coordinator of the AIADMK.

But with no official announcement made on the Panneerselvam faction joining the DMK-led alliance, legally the status quo continued with the retrieval committee continuing as a rebel faction of the AIADMK.

Ramachandran, at the media meet, said three things: One, that the decision to quit the NDA was taken at the high level meeting of the group but did not specify the reason by evading the question and saying that everyone knew about it. Two, that Panneerselvam would go on a tour of the State and three, that the group was not aligned to any political party.