Panneerselvam latest to join over 20 ex-CMs who quit party after losing top post

New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) They enjoyed their chief ministership, then switched parties and only one of them got the chair back. Former three-time Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam joined the list of at least 22 such leaders on Friday.

While Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu was the only one to get his chief ministership back even after switching sides, others on the list have managed to occupy key positions, including being Union ministers, MPs and party presidents, since quitting their original parties.

Goa has seen four former chief ministers switch sides after losing the top post, while there are two each from Karnataka and Uttarakhand.

Among those who changed their parties at the fag end of their career were S M Krishna, who quit the Congress to join the BJP at the age of 85 in 2017. Krishna was the 10th chief minister of Karnataka from 1999 to 2004 and died in 2024 at the age of 92.

N D Tiwari, a former Congressman had the distinction of being the chief minister of two states -- Uttar Pradesh and later Uttarakhand, when it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh -- between 2002 and 2007. He quit the Congress in 2018 at the age of 92 and died the same year after celebrating his 93rd birthday.

O Panneerselvam, once a trusted confidant of late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa and popularly known as OPS, joined arch rival DMK on Friday, after unsuccessfully struggling for more than three years to join his parent outfit again. He was expelled by the party in 2022.

OPS, who had functioned as the AIADMK treasurer and also held the top position of party coordinator, joined the DMK along with his son, P Ravindhranath Kumar, and supporters in the presence of its president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin.

OPS, who also briefly served as the leader of opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly after the DMK formed the government in the southern state in 2006, hit out at AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami as an "autocrat" and "arrogant".

Jitan Ram Manjhi (now 81), serving as the Union minister of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) since 2024, was once a confidante of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Manjhi had replaced Kumar as Bihar's 23rd chief minister and stayed on the post from May 2014 to February 2015, after Kumar accepted responsibility for the JD-U's poor show in the 2014 general election and resigned.

Manjhi had to step down as the chief minister after 10 months as the JD(U) asked him to make way for Kumar's return to the top post.

He, however, refused and was expelled from the party in February 2015, after which he formed his own Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), which is currently part of the NDA.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, who remained in the Congress all his life and occupied top positions in the party and governments at the Centre, was also the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008. After raising questions on the Congress leadership, Azad quit the party to form his own Democratic Azad Party (DAP).

Punjab's former two-time chief minister Amarinder Singh, who occupied the top post from 2002 to 2007 and again from 2017 to 2021, quit the Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2022 at the age of 80. He formed his Punjab Lok Congress but later merged it with the saffron party.

Among Goa's former chief ministers who quit their original parties were Digambar Kamat (who occupied the top post from 2007 to 2012) who switched from the Congress to the BJP in September 2022, Luizinho Faleiro (chief minister from 1998 to 1999) who quit the Congress to join the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2021, only to resign from it in 2023, Ravi Naik (two-time chief minister from 1991 to 1994) who switched from the Congress to the BJP in 2021 and Churchill Alemao (the second chief minister of the coastal state from March to April 1990) who crossed over from the Congress to the TMC in 2014.

Besides Krishna, another former Karnataka chief minister, Jagdish Shettar, quit his original party -- the BJP -- to join the Congress in 2023, but returned to the saffron outfit ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and is currently an MP. He was the chief minister of the southern state from 2012 to 2013.

Narayan Rane and Ashok Chavan were the two former Maharashtra chief ministers who switched over to the BJP from the Shiv Sena and the Congress respectively, after losing the top post. While Rane is currently a Union minister, Chavan is an MP in the Rajya Sabha.

In Uttarakhand, Vijay Bahuguna was the second chief minister after N D Tiwari to quit the Congress after losing the top post. He joined the BJP in 2016. He was the chief minister of the hill state from 2012 to 2014.

Two of Jharkhand's chief ministers also quit their parties after being removed as the chief minister -- Champai Soren, who occupied the top post from February to July 2024, quit the JMM and joined the BJP in 2024, and Babulal Marandi, who was the chief minister from 2000 to 2003, quit the BJP in 2006 to form his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, only to return back to the BJP in 2020 after merging his outfit with the saffron party.

Mukul Sangma was a two-time chief minister of Meghalaya from 2010 to 2018. He quit the Congress in November 2021 to join the TMC, while Giridhar Gamang, who was the chief minister of Odisha from February to December 1999, crossed over from the Congress to the BJP in 2015. He joined the BRS in 2023.

Kiran Kumar Reddy, who was the chief minister of the united Andhra Pradesh from 2010 to 2014, also resigned from the Congress over the bifurcation of the southern state and joined the BJP in 2023.

Ajit Jogi, also a former Congressman, was Chhattisgarh's first chief minister from 2000 to 2003. He quit the party to form his Janta Chhattisgarh Congress (Jogi) in 2017. He died in 2020. PTI SKC RC