in the cabinet recalls while ops was the acting cm when jayalalithaa was jailed he would meet the party cadre from 4 pm to 7 pm everyday to listen to their problems that was the most crucial time for the party because there was a fear of cadre getting demoralised but he held them together a party member said and ops works hard say those who know himhe is here at the secretariat everyday at sharp 8 30 am ops is one of the very few ministers who do not step out of the secretariat for lunch the only times he takes off from work is when he is on a pilgrimage twice a year and when he goes to bodinayaganur to be in his constituency a party member said in the past 75 days when jayalalithaa was hospitalised ops didnt conduct review meetings even though other ministers were constantly meeting officials from their departments those close to him said he didnt want to be seen as positioning himself as the cm and hence did not convene meetings even on the issue of demonestization ops is also seen as someone liked by the bjp that has not gone down well with the ministers who feel he could be used as proxy cm by the centre he is known to be trusting of bureaucrats with whom he is quite courteous and not ministers with most of whom he has a cold war going on two of the ministers that ops was friends with nathan viswanathan and sengottaiyan were sacked by j jayalalithaa last year ops too was not in her good books for some months and kept out of the partys election decisionmaking body because of his alleged involvement in some projects in the delta belt details of which the former cm thought were kept hidden from her several others feel ops will rise up to the occasion now that the amma who commanded dedication and loyalty from the cadre has passed away there is a degree of respect bureaucrats enjoyed under amma even several ministers did not get that ops has few friends among his colleagues but he is liked by party and officials with sasikala and her husband gaining more ground within it is only expected of ops to be careful and focus on taking everyone along and see to it that his relationship with the centre remains cordial a senior party member said