O. Panneerselvam | |
|---|---|
 Panneerselvam in 2017 | |
| 6th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu | |
| In office 6 December 2016 – 16 February 2017 | |
| Governor | C. Vidyasagar Rao |
| Cabinet | Panneerselvam III |
| Preceded by | J. Jayalalithaa |
| Succeeded by | Edappadi K. Palaniswami |
| In office 28 September 2014 – 23 May 2015 | |
| Governor | Konijeti Rosaiah |
| Cabinet | Panneerselvam II |
| Preceded by | J. Jayalalithaa |
| Succeeded by | J. Jayalalithaa |
| In office 21 September 2001 – 2 March 2002 | |
| Governor | |
| Cabinet | Panneerselvam I |
| Preceded by | J. Jayalalithaa |
| Succeeded by | J. Jayalalithaa |
| 2nd Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu | |
| In office 21 Aug 2017 – 7 May 2021 | |
| Chief Minister | Edappadi K. Palaniswami |
| Preceded by | vacant |
| Succeeded by | vacant |
| 15th Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 19 May 2006 – 28 May 2006 | |
| Chief Minister | M. Karunanidhi |
| Preceded by | K. Anbazhagan |
| Succeeded by | J. Jayalalithaa |
| Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly | |
| In office June 2021 – 14 February 2024 | |
| Leader of Opposition | Edappadi K. Palaniswami |
| Member ofTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly | |
| Assumed office 16 May 2011 | |
| Preceded by | S. Lakshmanan |
| Constituency | Bodinayakkanur |
| In office 14 May 2001 – 15 May 2011 | |
| Preceded by | L. Mookiah |
| Succeeded by | A. Laser |
| Constituency | Periyakulam |
| Coordinator ofAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |
| In office 21 August 2017 – 23 June 2022 | |
| Deputy | |
| Joint Coordinator | Edappadi K. Palaniswami |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Treasurer ofAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |
| In office 22 August 2017 – 11 July 2022 | |
| Coordinators |
|
| Preceded by | Dindigul C. Srinivasan |
| Succeeded by | Dindigul C. Srinivasan |
| In office 28 August 2007 – 14 February 2017 | |
| General Secretary |
|
| Preceded by | T. T. V. Dhinakaran |
| Succeeded by | Dindigul C. Srinivasan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1951-01-14)14 January 1951 (age 74)[1] |
| Political party | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhaga Thondar Urimai Meetpu Kural |
| Other political affiliations | All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (1973-2022) |
| Spouse | P. Vijayalakshmi (died 2021) |
| Children | 3 (includingP. Ravindhranath)[2] |
| Parents |
|
| Residences |
|
| Education | B.A. |
| Alma mater | Hajee Karutha Rowther Howdia College |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Awards | International Rising Star of the Year-Asia (2019) |
Ottakarathevar Panneerselvam, popularly known asOPS (born 14 January 1951) is an Indian politician who was thechief minister of Tamil Nadu in December 2016 and previously from 2001 to 2002 and from 2014 to 2015. He also served as thedeputy chief minister from 2017 to 2021 in theEdappadi K. Palaniswami-led government. As a finance minister, he has presented the state budget of Tamil Nadu 11 times.[3]
Paneerselvam joined theAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in 1973. He was a loyalist of former chief minister and AIADMK general secretaryJ. Jayalalithaa. His first two terms as the chief minister came when he replaced Jayalalithaa in the role, after she was forced to resign by the Indian courts. His third term began in the aftermath of Jayalalithaa's death and ended two months later when Palaniswami was selected as the chief minister by the party. On 4 January 2018, he was elected as leader of the house in theTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, and served till 2021. He also served as the joint coordinator of AIADMK from August 2017 to June 2022.
Panneerselvam was born on 14 January 1951 inPeriyakulam, Tamil Nadu. He belongs to the politically-influentialThevar community, which is found throughout Central and Southern Tamil Nadu. obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Haji Karutha Rowther Howdia College inUthamapalayam,Theni district. His close friends Salavuddin from Tenali encouraged him into politics. He also owned some agricultural land. He is married to P. Vijayalakshmi and the couple have three children. He is currently elected from the constituency ofBodinayakkanur, in Theni district.[4] His wife died on 1 September 2021 due to a heart attack[5] and his mother died at the age of 96 on 24 February 2023.
Panneerselvam started his political career in Periyakulam as a worker of the AIADMK in 1973 afterM. G. Ramachandran split from the DMK. He was Chairman of Periyakulam Municipality from 1996 to 2001.
He was sworn in as the 6thChief Minister of Tamil Nadu in September 2001 when the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was barred from holding office by theSupreme Court of India. During his stint as Chief Minister, he was widely criticised for allegedly heading apuppet government managed by Jayalalithaa. His tenure lasted for six months, from 21 September 2001 to 1 March 2002. In March 2002, he resigned as Chief Minister and Jayalalithaa was sworn in again after the Madras high Court overturned her conviction and she won aby-election fromAndipatti assembly constituency. From 2 March 2002 to 13 December 2003, he was the Minister for Public Works, Prohibition and Excise. Subsequently, he was also entrusted with the Revenue department's charge from 13 December 2003 to 15 May 2006.
After the party lost the assembly elections in May 2006, Panneerselvam was the leader of the AIADMK legislative party and theLeader of the Opposition in theTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for about nine days. In that election, he was elected to be the member of Tamil Nadu legislative assembly fromPeriyakulam.[citation needed]
In 2011, he contested as an AIADMK candidate from theBodinayakkanur and won. Again, he became the Minister of Finance in Jayalalithaa's government and held the office from 16 May 2011 to 27 September 2014. He was again entrusted with the responsibility of being Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 29 September 2014 when Jayalalitha was convicted in the disproportionate assets case. On 22 May 2015, he resigned as Chief Minister and Jayalalithaa was sworn in again after the Karnataka High Court acquitted her in the disproportionate assets case on 11 May 2015.[6][7]
A day after his resignation, on 23 May 2015, he was sworn in as Minister for Finance andPublic Works Department in Jayalalithaa's government.
During hospitalization of Jayalalithaa , he was given with her portfolios from 13 October 2016, thus making him as caretaker chief minister.[8] On 6 December 2016, Panneerselvam was elected as theChief Minister of Tamil Nadu following the death of incumbent Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.[9] On 11 December, he held his first cabinet meeting as a full-term Chief Minister.
After his exit from AIADMK, Panneerselvam and his supporters appealed to the election commission to take action against the party General SecretaryVKS and chief ministerEPS .He also made a point to them that he needs the two leaf party symbol to contest inRK Nagar election. Also, Edappadi K. Palaniswami and supporters appealed against him, but the election commission rejected both the appeals and allotted two different symbols to each party.[10]
In August 2017, theEdappadi K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam factions merged. He was made Deputy Chief Minister and was also given the finance portfolio.
In2019 Indian general election, his sonP. Ravindhranath was only AIADMK candidate who won a seat, inTheni Lok Sabha constituency.
The Tussle started in October 2020 when Minister for Milk and Dairy developmentK. T. Rajenthra Bhalaji tweeted that the party should go for elections, with EPS as the CM candidate. A day before Balaji’s tweet, Cooperative MinisterSellur K. Raju said, “MLAs will elect the chief minister” when AIADMK wins the 2021 elections.[11] Finally, then DCM Panneerselvam made the announcement that Palaniswami would be the chief ministerial candidate of the AIADMK on 20 October 2020 morning at a much awaited meeting at the AIADMK office in Chennai.[12]
On 10 May 2021, the newly elected AIADMK MLAs convened to choose the newLeader of the Opposition, an important post equivalent to a cabinet minister. The meeting was inconclusive, with both Panneerselvam and Palaniswami staking claims to the post, while their supporters hurled charges against each other. This included a prolonged quarrel between the two sections of the party outside the party's head office, causing unrest. Supporters of Palaniswami believed that he should be the Leader of the Opposition due to the party's good performance in the election inwestern Tamil Nadu, the region he hails from; whereas, Panneerselvam's supporters felt that the party fared poorly in other regions of the state due to Palaniswami's wrong policies during his Chief Ministerial tenure.[13] Eventually, Palaniswami was elected as the Leader of the Opposition.[14]article66027834.ece
After the party lost the assembly elections in May 2021, Panneerselvam won theBodinayakkanur constituency and was elected as theDeputy Leader of the Opposition inTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly On 14 June 2021.[15]On 17 July 2022,R. B. Udhaya Kumar was elected as the DeputyLeader of the Opposition in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly replacing Panneerselvam at theAIADMK Legislative Party Meeting. It was formally declared On 19 July 2022.[16][17]
On 14 June 2022, citing the party's troubles in the polls, AIADMK district secretaries and other senior party members spoke out to shun the "dual leadership" system and came out publicly in favor of strong unitary leader to strengthen the organisation.
Palaniswami supporters pushed for the change in the party's leadership structure by staging apolitical coup against AIADMK Coordinator Panneerselvam, who had become weak within the party. According to many sources, of the AIADMK's 75 district secretaries, hardly 10 supported him. Of the party's 66 MLAs, only five MLAs were reportedly on Panneerselvam side and less than 20 percent of the party's general council members behind him ahead of crucial general council meeting on 23 June 2022, which was expected to elect the single leadership to the party.[18][19][20]
On 30 June 2022, Palaniswami wrote a letter to Panneerselvam asserting the latter ceased to be the party coordinator as the amendments made to the party's bylaw in the 2021 December executive committee meeting were not recognised in the general council meeting held on 23 June.[21][22]
On 11 July 2022, the Party General Council abolished thedual leadership model and empowered Palaniswami to be theParty Supremo.[23]
On 11 July 2022, Panneerselvam was expelled as PartyTreasurer and primary member of the party for "anti-party" activities by theAIADMK General Council.[24][25][26]Dindigul Sreenivasan was made Party Treasurer succeeding him.[27] On 17 August, Justice G. Jayachandran of theMadras High Court ruled the expulsion of Panneerselvam and the decisions of the AIADMK General Council as invalid.[28]On 2 September 2022, adivision bench of the High Court upheld the decisions of the AIADMK general council meeting held on 11 July 2022 and set aside the previous court order of the single judge in the appeal case of Palaniswami, thus effectively restoring unitary leadership.[29][30] On 12 September 2022, theSupreme Court dismissed the plea of Panneerselvam challenging the order of Madras High Court to handover the keys to Palaniswami.[31]On 23 February 2023, theSupreme Court of India upheld the decisions of the AIADMK general council meeting held on 11 July 2022, and dismissed the petition of O. Panneerselvam challenging the previous order of thedivision bench, thus affirming unitary leadership underEdappadi K Palaniswami.[32][33] On 28 March 2023, TheMadras High Court ruled in favor of Edappadi K. Palaniswami and dismissed the petitions of O. Panneerselvam challenging the resolutions passed at the general council meeting held on 11 July 2022. On the same day, AIADMK announced thatEdappadi K. Palaniswami was elected as the general secretary through party's general secretary election.[34][35] On 20 April 2023, TheElection Commission of India recognizedEdappadi K Palaniswami as the AIADMK party general secretary, acknowledging the amendments to the party constitution and changes to list of office-bearers.[36][37] On 19 January 2024, theSupreme Court of India refused to stay the August 2023 order of the division bench of Madras High Court which dismissed the petitions of O. Panneerselvam challenging the 11 July general council resolutions that led to the expulsion of O. Panneerselvam and his supporters from the party, saying the interference at this stage will "lead to huge chaos".[38]
A report inThe Week in December 2017, alleged that Panneerselvam was on thesand mining baron Sekhar Reddy's payroll.[39] Reddy was arrested by theIncome Tax Department in March 2017 on money laundering charges. Five pages of the Reddy's Diary suggest alleged payments made to several AIADMK ministers, MLAs, and many others, amounting to more than₹48crore. At least five payments in which the word OPS or the name of his secretary Ramesh was written are shown in the contents of the diary.[40][41]
| Elections | Lok Sabha | Constituency | Political party | Result | Vote percentage | Opposition | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Political party | Vote percentage | ||||||||||
| 2024 | 18th | Ramanathapuram | IND |  | Lost | 30.86% | K. Navaskani | IUML |  | 45.86% | ||
| Elections | Assembly | Constituency | Political party | Result | Vote percentage | Opposition | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Political party | Vote percentage | ||||||||||
| 2001 | 12th | Periyakulam | AIADMK |  | Won | 54.28% | M. Abuthahir | DMK |  | 38.62% | ||
| 2006 | 13th | 49.78% | L. Mookaiah | 38.98% | ||||||||
| 2011 | 14th | Bodinayakanur | 56.69% | S. Lakshmanan | 38.89% | |||||||
| 2016 | 15th | 49.38% | 41.63% | |||||||||
| 2021 | 16th | 46.58% | Thanga Tamilselvan | 41.45% | ||||||||
| Elections | Position | Elected constituency | Term in office | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assumed office | Left office | Time in office | |||
| 2001 | Minister for Revenue | Periyakulam | 14 May 2001 | 20 September 2001 | 129 days |
| 2001 | Chief Minister | 21 September 2001 | 2 March 2002 | 162 days | |
| 2001 | Minister for Public Works,Prohibition and Excise | 2 March 2002 | 12 December 2002 | 285 days | |
| 2001 | Minister for Public Works,Prohibition, Exciseand Revenue | 13 December 2002 | 12 May 2006 | 3 years, 150 days | |
| 2006 | Leader of the Opposition | 19 May 2006 | 28 May 2006 | 9 days | |
| 2006 | Deputy Leader of the Opposition | 29 May 2006 | 14 May 2011 | 4 years, 350 days | |
| 2011 | Minister for Finance | Bodinayakanur | 16 May 2011 | 10 November 2013 | 2 years, 178 days |
| 2011 | Minister for Financeand Public Works | 11 November 2013 | 27 September 2014 | 320 days | |
| 2011 | Chief Minister | 28 September 2014 | 23 May 2015 | 237 days | |
| 2011 | Minister for Financeand Public Works | 23 May 2015 | 22 May 2016 | 365 days | |
| 2016 | Minister for Finance | 23 May 2016 | 5 December 2016 | 196 days | |
| 2016 | Chief Minister | 6 December 2016 | 15 February 2017 | 72 days | |
| 2016 | Member of the Legislative Assembly | 16 February 2017 | 20 August 2017 | 185 days | |
| 2016 | Deputy Chief Minister | 21 August 2017 | 6 May 2021 | 3 years, 258 days | |
| 2021 | Deputy Leader of the Opposition | 14 June 2021 | 11 July 2022 | 2 years, 245 days | |
| 2021 | Member of the Legislative Assembly | 14 February 2024 | Incumbent | 1 year, 254 days | |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu First tenure 2001–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Second tenure 2014–2015 | ||
| Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Third tenure 6–17 December 2016 | Succeeded by | |
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| Third Legislative Assembly |
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| Fifth Legislative Assembly |
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| Ninth Legislative Assembly | |
| Tenth Legislative Assembly |
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| Eleventh Legislative Assembly |
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| Twelfth Legislative Assembly |
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| Sixteenth Legislative Assembly |
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