CHENNAI: Until the evening of February 7, it was hard to imagine him as a rebel. O Panneerselvam’s trademark soft-spoken nature and the readiness with which he relinquished power to V K Sasikala — or so was thought initially — gave him unique stature in the state’s political arena. But as things stood on Saturday, he may face disqualification as an MLA, along with the 10 odd MLAs of the ruling party, who deviated from the party’s order.
What future does OPS hold in politics now? The support that OPS so far received is not exactly a support for him, but only a rejection of Sasikala’s leadership by a section within the party.
OPS does not have a wide command on his own and outside the AIADMK’s banner, his electoral fortunes would only be bleak.
On Saturday, he literally joined hands with the opposition DMK — bete noire for any AIADMK cadre. When Panneerselvam demanded a secret ballot, the DMK MLAs echoed him.
When DMK MLAs were evicted, OPS opposed it. The obvious question that OPS has not yet convincingly answered is why he remained silent for more than 48 hours after Sasikala was elected by the party’s MLAs as next CM. And if he was so averse to her leadership, why did he keep quiet for 40 days after she was made the general secretary of the party?
Since his rebellion, Pannerselvam had been raising doubts over the circumstances in which the former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa died.
Why did he remain quiet for 64 days? Without convincing answers to these questions, the electorate will largely see him as an opportunist who tried to capture power, not as a true rebel with a cause.