OPS Dispels Speculations On His Joining DMK
Recalling Stalin meeting him personally to express condolences when he had lost his wife and also mother, Panneerselvam said in a statement on Monday that his meeting with the Chief Minister was aimed at upholding the same Tamil tradition and that there was no politics involved in that.
Chennai: Dispelling speculations on joining hands with the DMK, former Chief Minister and ousted AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam,now heading the party’s ‘cadre rights redemption committee,’ said that politicizing his visit to Chief Minister M K Stalin’s residence to express condolences over the passing away of his brother M K Muthu was an ‘uncivilised act.’
Since Panneerselvam has been a target of a vicious attack after he met the Chief Minister on July 31 - at the Theosophical Society grounds in the morning and then at home in the evening - triggering speculations on a possible alliance with the DMK, he clarified through a statement on Monday that it was part of Tamil culture to call on someone who had been not well to enquire about their health and also to convey condolences to someone who was bereaved.
Recalling Stalin meeting him personally to express condolences when he had lost his wife and also mother, Panneerselvam said in a statement on Monday that his meeting with the Chief Minister was aimed at upholding the same Tamil tradition and that there was no politics involved in that.
Regretting that rumours were being spread through the media, including social media, by those seeking to make political gain out it, he said that as a follower of the late M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, his only aspiration was to usher in ‘Jayalalithaa rule’ through the 2026 Assembly elections and that he would do what was needed for that.
Panneerselvam also said it was wrong to say that he was expressing anger over the Union Government not releasing funds to Tamil Nadu under the SSA scheme only now for he had raised the demand way back on 29 August, 2024, itself.
Similarly when the Hindu Munnani leaders spoke ill of Dravidian icons Periyar E V Ramasamy and C N Annadurai, he condemned it on 25 June, 2025, through a statement and had even protested against a former BJP leader criticizing J Jayalalithaa on 12 June, 2023, he said.
He also said that he had supported the two-language system and urged for voting against the amendment brought by the Union Government to Wakf Board Act, proving to follow Jayalalithaa in supporting issues concerning the rights and welfare of Tamil people.
In a statement on Sunday night, Panneerselvam urged his followers to hold outreach programmes in every nook and cranny of the State to explain the inconveniences faced by people under DMK rule, the anti-Tamil Nadu approach of the Union BJP government and the AIADMK being led through the ruinous path.
Telling his cadre not to express their views of the alliance for the elections that would be decided at the appropriate time, he also wanted them to refrain from speaking about it in television debates, indicating that he was keeping its options open.
While leader of another breakaway group of the AIADMK, T T V Dinakaran, expressing a desire to not let Panneerselvam leave the NDA, the State BJP president Nainar Nagenthiran has also volunteered to take up his cause with the BJP high command in a bid to prevent a tie-up with the DMK.