Modi in town, friend-less OPS surfaces in hoarding, ad with him | Political Pulse News,The Indian Express
But his hopes may remain on paper, BJP sees no value as ADMK slips out of OPS hand
At a time when an isolated and friend-less O Panneerselvam is in desperate need of allies, a hoarding and an advertisement in Tamil Nadu over the past couple of days – coinciding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state for the launch of the Chess Olympiad – have set the state abuzz.
The huge hoarding, which came up in Kancheepuram, featured a smiling OPS along with life-size images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The advertisement, across two full pages, appeared in an English daily on Friday, containing a profile of OPS along with a photo featuring him with J Jayalalithaa and another of him with Modi, with an image in the middle from the Ramayana of Bharat at Lord Ram’s feet. The text below called OPS “the true loyalist” of Jayalalithaa.
Tamil Nadu politicians generally see little value in putting out advertisements in English dailies, and hence OPS’s choice of publication didn’t seem a coincidence. Nor did there seem a confusion about the message OPS wanted to convey: that he still keeps company in high places.
The message couldn’t be more timely. He might be still battling in the Supreme Court, but OPS has virtually lost control of the AIADMK, having been stripped of posts and locked out of its premises.
R Vaithilingam, a former AIADMK deputy coordinator who was ousted from the party for supporting OPS, denied they were behind the hoarding featuring Modi and Shah. “We cannot afford to have such a hoarding. Modi and Shah belong to another party. Somebody must have put it up without thinking about the political implications,” he told The Indian Express.
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