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Expelled AIADMK leader OPS involved in a leadership tussle with party general secretary EPS said he was willing to return to the party, but his request was quickly turned down.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (PTI file photo)
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) on Thursday turned down the offer made by expelled party coordinator O Panneerselvam (OPS) to rejoin the parent organisation
The development unfolded hours after OPS expressed his willingness to join AIADMK ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls. However, EPS bluntly declined to readmit him into the party, saying the collective decision to expel him was made by the party’s general council, its highest decision-making body.
OPS, who had launched the AIADMK Workers’ Rights Retrieval Committee and has been pitching for a united AIADMK, dramatically announced that he was willing to return to the parent organisation in Periyakulam in Theni district.
“I am ready to join the AIADMK. Are TTV Dhinakaran (AMMK general secretary) and Palaniswami ready (to accept),” former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam asked.
Notably, Dhinakaran was also expelled from the AIADMK and launched the AMMK in 2018. He had opposed EPS, who was roped in by the BJP to lead the NDA in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Assembly election. Recently, Dhinakaran returned to the NDA, accepting the former Chief Minister’s leadership to defeat the DMK at the hustings.
EPS Refuses To Accept OPS In AIADMK
In his native district Salem, EPS while speaking to reporters after attending an event, said that the AIADMK general council took a unanimous decision in 2022 to expel OPS.
“It was not my decision but a collective decision of the party’s general council comprising over 2,500 members. There is no chance of re-admitting him into the party,” the AIADMK general secretary said.
“I have been saying this for long. But he has been harping on the same issue for four years. He was removed from party’s primary membership for betrayal and anti-party activities (in 2022),” EPS added.
Tamil Nadu, India, India
January 29, 2026, 23:56 IST
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