Does O Panneerselvam faction have a future?

CHENNAI: There was perfect coordination and even camaraderie between DMK members and MLAs of the faction led by former chief minister O Panneerselvam in the Tamil Nadu assembly when the confidence motion was moved on Saturday. DMK members repeatedly urged speaker P Dhanapal to allow Mettur rebel MLA S Semmalai, O Panneerselvam, K Pandiarajan to speak.

Soon after the house convened, Semmalai raised a privilege issue of MLAs being held captive in Koovathur resort. Immediately, he found support among the 88 DMK MLAs who jumped to their feet to demand that the speaker provide security to all the MLAs. Dhanapal even ticked off DMK members for their new found love for Semmalai.

Soon Panneerselvam, who entered with a big 'vanakkam' to all the AIADMK MLAs, including those on the side of chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, and raised the issue of MLAs supporting him being held captive. DMK member J Anbazhagan termed the government a benami of AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala, lodged in the Bengaluru prison in the disproportionate assets case.

But, all this bonhomie with DMK could be short-lived. DMK is not going to be championing the cause of the anti-Sasikala group for too long, and both DMK and Panneerselvam, both are natural enemies of each other.

While the rebel group cannot be written off as members have been keeping up a constant anti-Sasikala refrain and projecting itself as the true heirs of Jayalalithaa, the big questions is if he keep the flock together and chip away further at the Sasikala faction.

If there are no major shake-ups in the government, it may well survive the remaining four years and the task of keeping his small flock together could prove all the more difficult for OPS. It's first major test would be the 11 byelections that would follow the disqualification of OPS and his MLA supporters. Possible bypoll victories and re-entry into the Tamil Nadu assembly could be a significant morale boost. And, if his faction survives the 2021 assembly election, OPS can hope to capitalize on the anti-Sasikala sentiment being fanned across the state.

But, with DMK in the wings, hoping to cripple the fractured AIADMK, the OPS group has two strong enemies. Survival for the OPS faction is a challenge, given its wafer-thin strength - a few MGR acolytes, a former minister, former chief J Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa and her supporters and 11 MLAs. The faction may well throw up some surprises.