ADMK's O Panneerselvam (OPS) has on Monday unfolded what was expected from him - taking back his candidate from the Erode East bypoll and giving up the race to his rival Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS), for yet another time. As we reported, the OPS faction has announced that it will withdraw its candidate Senthil Murugan and said that it will campaign for the ADMK's 'Two leaves' symbol, which will be secured by EPS. 

The annoucement from the OPS faction has come at a high time when the process of filing the nomination for the Erode East bypoll is nearing its deadline. The bypoll will be held on February 27 and the last date for filing the nomination is February 7. Addressing the reporters on Monday, OPS-backed ADMK leader Krishnan announced the withdrawal of Senthil Murugan's candidacy.  

In a closely-watched development, Krishnan said that the OPS faction will campaign for the Two Leaves symbol and that their stand is the Two Leaves symbol shouldn't be freezed. "With the view to make the Two Leaves symbol triumph, our candidate Senthil Murugan will step down from the race. We will do campaigns for the victory of Two Leaves symbol", Krishnan added. 

The announcement from the OPS faction implies that it will support EPS's candidate Thennarasu, who will most likely contest in the Two Leaves symbol. OPS's decision to withdraw his candidate has also come days after Tamil Nadu BJP urged him to take back his candidate and support the candidate fielded by EPS. Though OPS claimed that he is withdrawing his candidate to make the party symbol triumph, the political observers say that it will become a political setback for OPS and his leadership. 

While the OPS faction has said that they had generously acted to ensure the party's victory, the EPS faction has been slamming the rival camp that it has decided to withdraw the candidate as it has no majority backing from the party's general council meeting and that the OPS faction shouldn't have announced the candidate against EPS if it wished to work for the victory of the Two Leaves Symbol. As OPS has given up the race, it is expected that the Election Commission will grant the Two Leaves symbol to EPS.