On the trail contained in the city Bodinayakkanur In a newly constructed three-storey home in Theni district, a gentle stream of holiday makers, together with native DMK leaders, former AIADMK supporters and a gaggle of younger strategists with laptops and maps of their cubicles, stream out and in of the rooms with a quiet sense of urgency. Within the middle sits O Panneerselvam (generally often called OPS), who served because the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu 3 times.
OPS is making an attempt one thing as soon as thought unattainable. It seeks his re-election from his house turf, this time beneath the banner of his decades-old rival DMK. He appears somewhat anxious at first. Waking up from a brief post-lunch nap, he adjusted his seat and smiled faintly as he gazed on the acquainted crimson and white stripes of sacred ashes and ashes. kumkum Mark your brow and be able to reply questions.
That is unfamiliar territory for a person whose political life has been formed by lofty figures, first Jayalalithaa, then Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran’s affect taking off, and eventually main a failed rebel and an try and align with the BJP. The ecosystem that when protected him is now gone. Now, Bodinayakkanurhe’s fastidiously rebuilding.
“I’m mainly a celebration loyalist. All of us come from the DMK, proper?…The ideology and core rules have all the time been the identical,” he begins in a modest tone when requested about latest adjustments in his political life.
He usually speaks of his loyalty to the occasion, its previous, and what he calls its “unique design.” For years, that loyalty was to Jayalalithaa. “When Amma was main, it doesn’t matter what she stated, that was the one factor that was clear to us,” he says. “We simply didn’t know any higher than that.”
The phrases are actually extra about him than about her.
An election not like some other
With an OPS of 75, this election, his fourth consecutive election from the world, is not like any he has confronted earlier than. Bodinayakkanur It was a bastion of AIADMK for a very long time. Jayalalithaa herself had competed right here in 1989 and received. OPS had hat trick wins in 2011, 2016 and 2021. However now, confronted with the formidable weight of the AIADMK’s ‘two leaves’, he’s making an attempt to transform private loyalty into political survival.
The town exterior displays that pressure. Former supporters are actually lining up with the enemy. AIADMK leaders keep that the loyalty of the cadre will probably be maintained. Some DMK staff stated they had been compelled to surrender their electoral ambitions to accommodate OPS however had been working “with out grievance”. The stratified caste calculation of the constituency — Mukkulathor, Nadar, Naidu, Chettiyar, plus scheduled castes and tribes — provides one other layer of unpredictability. However there is no such thing as a panic within the OPS camp.
For the DMK, the introduction of OPS means not solely semiotics but additionally arithmetic. Within the southern belt, the place the OBC-Thevar neighborhood stays the decisive bloc, OPS nonetheless has affect constructed over a long time of native presence and administrative entry. His entry will allow the DMK to interrupt via the social base that has traditionally tilted in direction of the AIADMK, particularly in districts like Theni, Ramanathapuram and even the south. Social gathering strategists see him as each a vote-getter and a story device who might undermine the AIADMK management. Edappadi Ok Palaniswami (also referred to as EPS). OPS is getting used to sharpen the “betrayal” pitch in opposition to EPS. In EPS, previous rivals have been repurposed to destroy the AIADMK-NDA’s core vote financial institution, unexpectedly strengthening it for the DMK.
Contained in the camp workplace, OPS gestured towards the wall after which towards his outfit. He lifts the sting of his dhoti barely to disclose the border of crimson and black, the colours of the DMK. It is each delicate and dramatic. “Lots of of individuals right here at Teni and Bodhi have additionally modified because the day I joined,” he says, suggesting that loyalty to the image is probably not as mounted because it as soon as was. “Individuals have modified,” he repeated, as if to reassure him.
In one other second, he mirrored not on his electoral losses however on his private losses. “The second Amma died, my smile disappeared,” he says. Then, after a pause, he added, “It is solely now that issues are beginning to get again to regular.” When requested if the heat, the political and religious refuge he as soon as had, is being restored beneath MK Stalin, he doesn’t hesitate. “The identical degree Amma maintained it at, now it’s coming.” It is a stunning assertion, one which was unthinkable within the days when OPS was preventing the DMK “from side to side,” in keeping with the recollections of occasion veterans.
Rebuilding after setbacks
OPS’s political trajectory has been outlined by reversals. In 2017, he staged a dramatic revolt in opposition to Sasikala, meditating at Jayalalithaa’s monument and calling out her betrayal. Many see this because the second that thwarted the way forward for the AIADMK and altered the course of politics in Tamil Nadu.
The failure of this rebel was additionally the start of his isolation. Expelled from AIADMK by EPS and located OPS myself With out political events, there are not any steady alliances and finally no clear foundations. Now, Bodinayakkanurhe is making an attempt to rebuild that basis. Not via ideology, however via reminiscence and proximity.
“With out the general public good, I’m not a egocentric politician,” he says, tracing his pupil service beginnings within the Lions Membership within the early Seventies. He talks about Periyakulam, the place he says serving because the council president gave him a basis in authorities. “While you change into president there, you get coaching on every thing.”
There’s a quiet insistence in these reminiscences, as if making an attempt to say that regardless of all of the adjustments and adjustments, this man stays the identical.
Nevertheless, the truth on the bottom is extra advanced. In 2021, OPS received the seat by greater than 11,000 votes. In 2024, he contested as an impartial in Ramanathapuram and completed second with 342,000 votes, a decent efficiency however an indication of declining command. Now, he isn’t just an adversary, he’s confronting the AIADMK’s ‘two-leaf’ image and its emotional vestiges.
His rivals model his transfer opportunistic. “How can the individuals respect him when he modified events after serving because the CM representing the AIADMK for 3 phrases?” asks an opposition occasion official.
Once we returned to the camp workplace, the room was as soon as once more full. Privately, his supporters paint a unique image of his political journey. In different phrases, it’s a journey of survival. Teams of younger males crowd over constituency maps, marking booth-level methods as “realizing each inch of the physique.” On the entrance, a mixture of DMK staff and former AIADMK males are ready for OPS to start the night time marketing campaign.
It is round 5pm. He watched silently as OPS left and supporters lined up with folded arms. When requested concerning the “adjustments” which have taken place, he says there may be nothing to repair. “EPS destroyed the occasion. There is no such thing as a one in that occasion. And after becoming a member of DMK, nothing modified in my political life,” he says, suggesting that his resolution to hitch his erstwhile rival was like coming house.
exterior, Bodinayakkanur I am going to wait. OPS is making ready to recalibrate Doty internally and embark on a marketing campaign aimed as a lot at regaining the seat as it’s at regaining relevance.
