"OPS In League With DMK": New AIADMK Boss After Rival Expelled

Elected as top leader, E Palaniswamy (EPS) launches frontal attack on O Panneerselvam (OPS) after big changes in Tamil Nadu's main opposition party.

AIADMK Interim General Secretary E Palaniswamy (or EPS) launched a frontal attack on rival O Panneerselvam (or OPS) after ending the dual leadership system and ousting him from the party.

“OPS has unleashed violence and taken away party belongings from the office, in league with the DMK government,” he alleged. “Police did not give security to the AIADMK headquarters despite pleas. This is proof of the deteriorating law and order.”

This came just after a weeks-long build-up ended with big changes in Tamil Nadu's principal opposition party AIADMK. Scrapping the posts of Coordinator and Joint Coordinator — held by OPS and EPS, respectively — the party General Council with over 2,500-members gave EPS the post that makes him singular supreme leader. And OPS was expelled for "anti-party" activities. Technically, the post of General Secretary is with EPS only as an interim arrangement until elections are held. 

The two leaders have been working under the dual leadership model as per a ceasefire adopted five years ago, when factionalism had threatened to break up the party after the death of the then chief minister J Jayalalitha in December 2016. The party has since lost power, and the infighting has got as bad as it was, if not worse.