Dharma will win again, says OPS facing setbacks
AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam (OPS) on Wednesday appeared to have resigned himself to the fact that the odds are stacked against him ahead of the June 23 party meeting which is expected to favour joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) for a single, supreme party post.
In another setback for OPS, police declined to entertain his plea to deny permission to the party General and Executive Council meetings scheduled to be held here on Thursday.
Panneerselvam tweeted that ‘Dharma will win again’ while the Madras High Court is hearing arguments for and against (EPS and OPS factions, respectively) the permissibility of making leadership change in the crucial meeting.
Late party matriarch, J Jayalalithaa was declared AIADMK’s eternal general secretary in 2017 to honour her memory and the party had announced then that no one else would be brought to that position. OPS’s ‘Dharma’ remark appeared to be an indication that he has started reconciling himself to the fact that, as of now, his rival EPS has an upper hand in the party and that Panneerselvam would do whatever it takes to reclaim his rightful position in the party.
Among the options being explored by the OPS camp, include approaching the Election Commission at the right time for its intervention. Petitions have been filed in a city court as well seeking intervention to maintain status quo as regards the dual structure (led by OPS and EPS) of party leadership.
Panneerselvam, expressing anguish over a supporter attempting self-immolation, appealed to cadres to not resort to any extreme measures such as this. He quoted a popular Tamil phrase, which could be roughly translated as “Dharma may be engulfed by a cunning ploy, but Dharma will eventually win.” OPS alleged that an autocratic and unruly attitude prevailed in the AIADMK now, apparently targeting EPS who had on Tuesday hit out at him. Without naming OPS explicitly, Palaniswami had said that some individuals were trying to weaken the party.
Right now, less than 10 district secretaries out of the total 75 secretaries for party districts and a group of office-bearers including Deputy Secretary R Vaithilingam are backing Panneerselvam, besides sections of ordinary party workers.