Flutter after tweet: Panneerselvam hints at tie-up with BJP, rectifies

Realising his faux pas, the leader of the breakaway faction of AIADMK modified his tweet, replacing the BJP with “any political party”.

In Tamil Nadu, ever since former chief minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) revolted against AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala, it was widely speculated that he had the blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam (centre) hinted at an alliance with BJP after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday. But he soon rectified the message. In the picture are AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan (right) and senior party leader E Madhusudhanan at a press conference in New Delhi earlier. (PTI FILE PHOTO)

On Saturday, he himself gave credence to such guesswork by tweeting his intentions of getting cosy with the BJP, only to change it soon after, dropping BJP from the tweet.

A day after calling on Modi in New Delhi, OPS tweeted that his party would take a final decision on an alliance with the BJP after the local body elections in Tamil Nadu were announced.

“We will take a decision on alliance with BJP once local body elections are announced,” the tweet said.

Realising the faux pas, OPS immediately tried to rectify and modified his tweet: “We mean that only after the announcement of Local body elections we will think about an alliance with any political party.”

The BJP is trying to gain a foothold in Tamil Nadu and has been eyeing a tie-up with AIADMK for long, but had been spurned by its former boss late J Jayalalithaa. Now, with AIADMK split into two factions, BJP senses a chance for a tie-up.