OPS, TTV join hands for a ‘working arrangement’ after brief meeting

Speculation had been rife for some time that the meeting was going to take place.

Those speculations began in November 2022, when OPS hinted that he would meet “anyone” to unite the party.

Dhinakaran welcomed the expelled AIADMK leaders and held talks for nearly 30 minutes.

The meeting was a definite departure from the note the two leaders — both ousted at different times from the AIADMK — struck in 2017 after the 2016 death of Jayalalithaa, fondly called Amma within the party and by supporters.

OPS succeeded her as Tamil Nadu chief minister, even as Dhinakaran and his aunt VK Sasikala — a close aide of Jayalalitha who was once referred to as Chinnamma and by extension a political successor to the deceased AIADMK leader before her departure from the party — made a play for the top post in the party as well as the state.

OPS resigned from the chief minister’s post on 17 February, 2017, and revolted against Sasikala and Dhinakaran. He also went on to say that Dhinakaran forced him to resign.

Pannerselvam subsequently went to the memorial of Jayalalithaa and sat in meditation. He called the revolt “Dharmayutham”.

Related: ECI recognises EPS as AIADMK chief. This is what it means

Will work together

After their meeting on Monday, Dhinakaran along with the expelled leaders, told reporters that he would join hands with OPS to retrieve the party along with the true caders of the AIADMK, and fulfil the wish of late party chief and former chief minister Jayalalithaa.

Panruti Ramachandran said that they had a common agenda: Retrieve the party from the betrayers and to have a unified AIADMK.

Dhinakaran’s AMMK and the OPS-led AIADMK faction would have a “working arrangement’ like the CPI and the CPI(M), he explained.

He also said that both parties would work unitedly on common issues, and that their ultimate goal would be bringing the AIADMK under one umbrella and defeating the DMK.

Dhinakaran, responding to the reporters when asked about the OPS revolt in 2017, said that those were old stories.

“Apart from politics, he (OPS) is my good friend. I have known him since 1999. We have been in touch for the past few months, talking on the phone when he had a problem with the AIADMK. It’s a friendly gesture. I can even hold his hands and walk in the dark, trusting him. But could I do that with EPS?” Dhinakaran said.

Turning down the possibility of an alliance, Dhinakaran said that there are three options left: Have an alliance with the BJP, or the Congress, or contest alone.

“But now it is very premature to speak about an alliance in the parliamentary elections,” Dhinakaran said.

Related: EPS is AIADMK general secretary. Here is a look at his journey

‘Will meet Sasikala soon’

Panneerselvam, meanwhile, told reporters that his case on the claim over the party was still pending before the court and he would try in every which way to bring the AIADMK back into the hands of the true cadres of MG Ramachandran (MGR) — the party’s founder and former chief minister — and Jayalalithaa.

“Let the old issues be buried. We are now moving forward to accomplish a goal. The betrayers will be shown the gates and soon the party will be in the hands of true cadres,” Panneerselvam said.

When asked about whether he had a plan to meet VK Sasikala, Panneerselvam said: “I spoke with her on the phone. She is out of station and we will meet once she is back.”

OPS, Dhinakaran, and Sasikala all belong to the Thevar community, which has a strong voter base in southern Tamil Nadu.