Chennai, July 28 (BPNS)

Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, O. Panneerselvam (OPS ), has created a flutter after his camp erected huge hoardings with OPS with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home minister, Amit Shah. It is to be noted that OPS was expelled from the AIADMK on July 11 during the party general council meeting wherein Edappadi K.Palaniswami got control of the party.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi arriving at Chennai to inaugurate the World Chess Championship, the hoarding of OPS with Modi and Amit Shah has raised several speculations on his future course of action.

Highly placed sources in the OPS camp told BPNS that the former Chief Minister was seriously mulling an entry into the saffron party but wants to make sure that his son O.P. Raveendranath who is the lone Member of Parliament from AIADMK is properly accommodated. OPS, according to the party sources told BPNS that needs to be accommodated as a Governor also.

On Thursday, the leaders who were recently given postings by OPS in AIADMK brought a huge floral garland to put on the statue of DMK leader and former Chief Minister, C.N. Annadurai.

While a major section close to OPS believes that the former Chief Minister is mulling the possibility of an entry to the BJP camp, another section believes that he is playing a last-minute gamble for reentry to the AIADMK camp using the good offices of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister, Amit Shah.

Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are personally close to both O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami as the AIADMK has been an alliance partner of the BJP since the 2019 general elections.

With the 2024 loksabha elections in sight, the BJP leadership would try to retain AIADMK in the NDA fold in Tamil Nadu and hence may not be keen for an OPS directly joining the party and instead would be trying to mend the differences between the two leaders.

C. Rajeev, Director, Centre for Policy and Development Studies, a think tank based out of Chennai while speaking to BPNS said, “ The AIADMK is an important political ally for the BJP and with the saffron party gaining ground in Tamil Nadu after the advent of K. Annamalai as the president, the BJP may not be keen to break the AIADMK as of now. The possibilities of a comeback for OPS into AIADMK cannot be ruled out if the national leadership of the BJP involves in the matter.”

However, the hoardings erected in Chennai by the OPS camp have created a flutter in Tamil Nadu politics as to what the exact motive of the former Chief Minister is.