Finally OPS Speaks Against Union BJP Government

Chennai: Former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who still calls himself the coordinator of the AIADMK despite his ouster from the party way back in 2022 and has been posing as a leader of a breakaway group aligned to the BJP, finally hit out at the Union Government on Tuesday for not releasing funds to the tune of Rs 2151 crore under the SSA scheme for Tamil Nadu after it became clear that he was not wanted in the NDA.

The immediate provocation for Panneerselvam to openly go against the BJP is probably the denial of any importance to him or his faction during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Thoothukudi and Ariyalur district on Saturday and Sunday though he had been a persistent member of the NDA all along.

While the faction that he heads, which calls itself as the AIADMK members’ rights redemption group, has four MLAs in the State Assembly, the BJP, which spearheads the NDA, was refusing to identify it as a political entity of importance, its supporters have been complaining.

The total neglect by the BJP and NDA leaders has become pronounced after the AIADMK and its general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami pledged support to the BJP when Union Home Minister Amit Shah came down to Chennai last in April and leaders of both the parties started working together to take on the DMK unitedly.

Panneerselvam and his acolytes had been hoping to join the main AIADMK again or at least be recognized as an independent faction affiliated to the NDA. But leaders of the AIADMK, particularly Palaniswami, had been resisting such overtures by Panneelselvam right from the beginning. Now perhaps the Prime Minister’s visit turned out to be the last straw.

The apparent disenchantment of the NDA was revealed by Panneerselvam for the first time when rumours also started floating about his plans to join hands with the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) of Vijay.

With some media outlets stressing on the alliance move gaining momentum after TVK spurned an invitation from Palaniswami for an alliance – Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi too reacted in the same fashion – it is now believed Panneerselvam will gravitate towards the TVK abandoning the BJP.

Since the TVK has started taking a firm anti-BJP stand – Vijay wondered openly why the party poised against the interests of Tamil Nadu should sing the praise of King Rajendra Chola – Panneerselvam might have felt that he could make a beginning to be its ally by questioning the Union Government for not releasing funds meant for Tamil Nadu.

In his statement issued on Tuesday, Panneerselvam expressed his dismay over students from the marginalized communities getting affected by the withholding of the SSA funds on the ground that the State had not implemented the three-language formula in school education. It was a clear attack on the Union BJP government, something that Panneerselvam or his party honchos have ever done earlier.

Along with the Panneerselvam group, a few other smaller parties like DMDK and breakaway factions of bigger parties like the one led by T T V Dinakaran may also join hands with TVK to oppose both the BJP and DMK, it is rumoured.

The TVK’s proclamation that it is only aspiring to usher in a change of rule in the State under the leadership of Vijay – not necessarily by the TVK – which became evident from the statement issued by that nascent party’s general secretary N Anand on Tuesday announcing the launch of an app to facilitate easy enrolment is one indication that the party was definitely looking for allies even if it is not interested in aligning with the AIADMK.