Nestled at the base of the Western Ghats, Bodinayakanur, the small town off Theni district is unusually calm. White cars and a campaign van fitted the flags of over a dozen parties are lined up on an interior lane, as a few visitors are seen walking into a newly constructed three-storey building. Young boys with a time schedule and route map are seen preparing for the evening election campaign. The main door leads to a well-lit small room. On the wall is the portrait of the former chief minister O. Panneerselvam hugging chief minister M.K. Stalin, both in smiles.
Clad in a dhoti bordered by DMK flag colours and with a dash of vibuthi (sacred ash) and kumkum on his forehead, OPS emerges with a broad smile. To any seasoned observer of Dravidian politics, this imagery presents a jarring dissonance: a man defined by his personal theocratic identity and religious devotion now seeking shelter under the banner of the DMK’s foundational rationalism. This visual clash is a microcosm of the broader ideological repositioning. OPS, in his late 70s, is attempting, framing his move not as a surrender to a rival, but as a strategic homecoming to the Dravidian movement’s original roots.
The psychological transformation of OPS reflects a calculated strategy of political survival. “I have come to the Thaai Kazhagam (parent party). I am basic loyalist of the party and we all came from the DMK. Our ideologies and principles have always been the same,” says OPS. His return to the parent party has got him the much respected space that he had lost in the past eight years, after the death of Jayalalithaa. For decades, his identity was entirely subsumed by his loyalty to J Jayalalithaa; he famously operated under the mantra that whatever "Amma" said was the only clarity his camp required. However, for a journalist tracing the lineage of his career, OPS has a history of navigating schisms by choosing the alternative path; as far back as 1989, he sided with the V.N. Janaki faction during the first great AIADMK split. Today, after being expelled by Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS), OPS is once again playing the outsider, attempting to reconcile his decades of rivalry with the DMK through a narrative of original intent. “I lost my smile, my happiness after Amma died. I have regained it now,” OPS says with a gentle smile once again.
He stood beside DMK’s heir apparent and deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, during the campaign meeting, an unusual scene that any voter in Bodinayakkanaur would have ever thought off. In fact, Udhayanidhi laced it with pun while campaigning. “We (DMK) lost last time in this constituency. But this time, the candidate to whom we lost is with us. It is your duty to make him win,” Udhayanidhi appealed to the voters. OPS won in 2021 again DMK’s Thanga Thamilselvan, again a turncoat from the AIADMK, with a thin margin of 11,021 votes. The former chief minister has of course positioned himself as a “basic loyalist” of the Dravidian movement rather than a political opportunist. Yet, this ideological homecoming matters little if the cold arithmetic of the ballot box—long his greatest ally—does not add up in his home turf.
But for him mapping the battleground is a high risk, as people still associate him with ‘two-leaves’ and see him as a Jayalalithaa loyalist. In fact, at the very entrance of his election office, Jayalalithaa smiles from a portrait hanging on the side wall, with a jasmine garland around it. And Bodinayakkanur - more than a constituency is a symbol of AIADMK's historical dominance. It is the seat from which Jayalalithaa made her electoral debut in 1989 and where OPS secured a hat-trick of victories in 2011, 2016, and 2021. The 2026 election, however, serves as the ultimate litmus test: Whether Panneerselvam's personal clout outweigh the psychological power of the state’s most iconic political symbol–the two leaves–is the million dollar question.
And OPS has entered the race with a dwindling cushion, complex caste arithmetic and a complicated demographic landscape. Further complicating is the opposition’s narrative in the field. The opposition, led by Narayanasamy and bolstered by the AMMK’s presence in the AIADMK-led NDA, is leaning heavily into the “betrayal” narrative. They argue that OPS has abandoned the cadres who built his career, setting the stage for a confrontation where organisational loyalty to the two leaves is pitted directly against OPS’s personal brand.
The political journey of OPS has been one of dramatic reversals and survivalist manoeuvres. His performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where he secured 3.42 lakh votes as an independent in Ramanathapuram, demonstrated a significant, though diminished, personal command. Yet, the 2026 contest in Bodinayakkanur is the definitive trial. His "simple man" persona is now being tested against accusations of indecisiveness and the reality that much of his former power was derived from the very party he now opposes.
