CHENNAI: Former three-time Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader O Panneerselvam, 75, joined the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party in the presence of its president and state Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday, after closing doors on it in the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance.
Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS and once a trusted confidant of the late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, was expelled from the party in 2022 by his arch rival and current AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami.
After failing to gain control of the party through a long legal battle, Panneerselvam tried to rejoin the AIADMK with the help of the BJP based NDA alliance in Tamil Nadu.
However, Palaniswami refused to make way for OPS even though he was more aligned with AMMK’s TTV Dhinakaran. The AMMK joined the NDA alliance in the state in January.
Last week, OPS, who served as AIADMK treasurer and also held the former top post of party coordinator, met Stalin and on Friday joined the party along with his son, P Ravindranath Kumar.
Speaking to reporters, Panneerselvam expressed his happiness at joining the DMK and criticized Palaniswami as an “tyrant”.
“The decision I have taken is my own, to end a bitter experience for me. I thank CM and DMK chief Stalin for accepting me. The EPS is behaving like a dictator and has created a situation where the AIADMK cannot win,” Panneerselvam told the media.
MK Stalin welcomed Panneerselvam saying that the latter had joined the parent organisation, referring to the origin of the AIADMK (a splinter group from the DMK in 1972).
VK Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s friend and confidant, who was also expelled from the AIADMK, and who recently announced the launch of her own party, on Friday described OPS’s move as a “huge mistake” even as she accused Palaniswami of dictatorial tendencies. “This decision taken by O Panneerselvam, is very unfortunate. Joining the DMK under the illusion that it is the ‘mother party’ was a huge mistake,” she said in a post on X, without naming Palaniswami. But the root cause of all these conditions is one person.”
“Aren’t you embarrassed?” asked the AIADMK on X, highlighting the rapid rise of OPS in the party.
Starting out as a café owner in Theni, OPS first became chief minister at the age of 40 in 2001, after Jayalalithaa had to step down as chief minister when she faced a corruption case. Then, he became the chief minister in 2014 after Jayalalithaa’s conviction in a disproportionate assets case. He was appointed Prime Minister again after her death in 2016.
OPS launched ‘Dharmayudham’ in February 2017 alleging that he was forced to resign from the post of Chief Minister and eventually collaborated with the faction led by Palaniswami (who allied with Sasikala to oust him) to relieve Sasikala and Dinakaran (her nephew) from the party.
But his relationship with Palaniswami soured and he was fired in 2022.
After his expulsion, he floated the AIADMK Labor Rights Retrieval Committee which was renamed in December 2025 as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Labor Rights Retrieval Kazhagam.
