Sixth anniversary of OPS’ Dharmayudham

CHENNAI: It has been six years since three time ‘stand-by’ Chief Minister O Panneerselvam’s ‘Dharmayudham’ at the memorial of the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa against her aide VK Sasikala and her family.

On the same day six years ago, OPS revolted against Sasikala and family.

Forced to resign the Chief Minister post, OPS went to the memorial of J Jayalalithaa and sat in total silence, jolting the political spectrum within the then ruling party. Several hundreds of party functionaries and cadres converged to extend their solidarity to OPS.

Breaking the nearly 40 minutes silence, he declared Dharmayudham to free the party from the clutches of Sasikala, the close confidante of Jayalalithaa for half a century.

Several anti-Sasikala groups to back him, resulting in the indiscreet political campaign against Sasikala, her nephew TTV Dhinakaran. They even termed Sasikala family as ‘Mannargudi Mafia’. He demanded a fair probe into the demise of their leader, who was declared dead on December 5 in 2016 after a prolonged hospitalisation. OPS stakes went up among the party cadres and sympathisers.

However, OPS popularity and reliability faded away thick and fast after he joined Edappadi K Palaniswami’s led government and played second fiddle to Kongu strongman as his deputy. On the first anniversary of Dharmayudham, he boasted that he succeeded in freeing the party from Sasikala family and once again made it as a cadre-based political force.

Now, he overtly expressed his willingness to restore the fractured tie with former general secretary of the party Sasikala, and AMMK leader Dhinakaran for an “united AIADMK”.

Now, OPS, as part of Dharmayudham 2.0, has launched a legal battle against the EPS camp. Knowing that EPS had virtually taken over the party as more than 95% of the general council members, district secretaries, party MPs and MLAs with him, OPS with a handful of supporters were knocking the doors of Constitutional Authorities to remain relevant in the political space of the AIADMK that ruled the State for more than three decades.