Iruvar: The rise of EPS and fall of OPS

Iruvar: The rise of EPS and fall of OPS

STORYBOARD

ARUN RAM. 04.08.2025

The journeys of Edappadi Karuppa Palaniswami and Ottakarathevar Panneerselvam are similar in many ways. Both were born in the early 1950s (EPS is 71, OPS 74) into agricultural families; both are graduates; both entered politics with AIADMK in the early 1970s (EPS in 1974 and OPS in 1973); and both have been chief ministers (EPS once, from Feb 2017 to May 2021; OPS thrice, from Sep 2001 to March 2002, Sep 2014 to May 2015, and Dec 2016 to Feb 2017). 

And now, EPS is at the helm of the main opposition party; OPS is languishing in the middle of nowhere. So, what led them to these diverse destinies? Luck plays an important part in politics, but then, fortune favours the brave who are also clever. EPS was first elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly from Edappadi in 1989 (he won five assembly polls and lost thrice) and became an MP for the first time in 1998. He became the party’s propaganda secretary – a post once held by J Jayalalithaa – in 2007. 

OPS made his assembly debut in 2001 (12 years after EPS did), went on to win four more consecutive assembly polls. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he lost in Ramanathapuram as an NDA independent candidate. While the track records of the two men in AIADMK have been similar (but for that OPS sided with Janaki Ramachandran after MGR’s death in 1987, while EPS supported the Jayalalithaa faction), when it came to grabbing opportunities and working on them, EPS proved himself to be much smarter than OPS. The first two times OPS became chief minister was as a night watchman, till Jayalalithaa could free herself from the legal tangles and return. As a puppet CM, he could do precious little to assert himself as Amma held the strings.

But the third time was different. It did not come as a surprise when OPS, who was holding the portfolios of Jayalalithaa during her stay in the hospital, was sworn in chief minister on Dec 6, 2016, the day after Jayalalithaa’s death. Poes Garden insiders know the ‘strong arm’ tactics of V K Sasikala, but this was OPS’s best opportunity to put his foot down. He didn’t. On a dark night, hardly two months later, he sat at the Jayalalithaa samadhi in meditation. Having resigned as CM, he called it a ‘dharmayudham’, the silent battle of a righteous man, wronged. OPS had just made his gravest mistake in politics. He got some unexpected support when Sasikala appeared set to take the throne at Fort St George. Had he leveraged this groundswell without resigning, AIADMK’s political history would have been different. 

A few days later, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Sasikala in the disproportionate wealth case, and sentenced her to four years in prison, thereby disqualifying her to hold a constitutional post. OPS’s revolt came as a stroke of luck for EPS, who saw the CM post tossed towards him. And how he grabbed it with both hands! He also captained the AIADMK ship through the choppy waters of factionalism under the thunder cloud of corruption. His brief to the ministers was clear: If you remove me from the helm, we all sink together; make the most of it till it lasts. The fear of loss worked. 

After losing power in 2021, EPS’s challenges grew within the party, but he systematically disarmed OPS, first by removing him as the coordinator and then from the party. Also to the credit of EPS, a gounder, is keeping such influential thevars like Natham Viswanathan and S P Velumani from switching to the side of OPS, a thevar. Having quit NDA and looking for friends among foes, OPS is at the ebb of his political career. 

DMK may have some utility of OPS as a few thousands of thevar votes in the southern districts can be decisive in close fights, and Stalin could leave much of EPS-baiting to him while focusing on his govt’s achievements. Vijay’s TVK is yet to respond to OPS’s feeler. His re-entering NDA cannot be ruled out, but now the dharmayodha’s quiver is empty.