Chennai, Aug. 2 -- O Panneerselvam (OPS), 74, after walking out of the NDA, for allegedly being cold shouldered by the BJP, held back to back meetings with Stalin on the day he quit the alliance and opened a dialogue channel with actor Vijay's Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) which will make its debut in the 2026 assembly elections.

Next year's elections is poised to be a crowded affair in Tamil Nadu with the incumbent DMK's rainbow alliance intact which is part of the INDIA bloc, the AIADMK -led NDA, Tamil nationalist S Seeman's Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) and Vijay's TVK.

The availability of OPS, who has a weaning vote bank of the Thevar community, a caste dominant in southern Tamil Nadu, comes at a time when there is a crisis in other s...