Rajinikanth has finally announced his entry into politics, ending the months-long suspense which had kept his fans, observers, politicians and fellow film stars on tenterhooks for months.
Speaking to his hundreds of fans who trooped into the Raghavendra marriage hall in Chennai, Rajinikanth stopped short of announcing a political party, saying only that he would float one at the “appropriate time”.
That didn’t stop one fan from coming armed with a ‘party flag’ — a tricolour of red, white and blue with a sketch of Rajinikanth. First among those to congratulate Rajinikanth was his cinema, and perhaps, political rival Kamal Haasan.
The BJP, too, welcomed him, saying it shares his ideal of honesty in politics. The AIADMK was more cautious, welcoming the actor in politics, but seeking to know his “blueprint” of politics. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy was quick to dismiss the hype around Rajinikanth’s political plunge, predicting he would ‘flop’.
With the announcement, the Thalaivar of Tamil cinema has ended the months-long suspense and again stirred the political pot in Tamil Nadu, which has been going through a political vacuum since the death of AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa last year.
Rajinikanth said his party will contest all 234 seats of the state in the next assembly elections in 2021. The decision to contest the 2019 parliamentary elections will be taken at an appropriate time. His party, he said, would resign if it was unable to fulfil its electoral promises within three years of coming into power.
The actor said he was not entering politics to seek power. “The Chief Minister’s post came to me long time ago, I kept away. I did not have the intention of getting the post of CM when I was in my 40s,” Rajinikanth said. Over the last few days, posters came up in Chennai that say if Rajinikanth takes the political plunge, he would be the next chief minister.
Name of Rajinikanth’s Political Party is like to be announced on the occasion of Pongal which is South India’s biggest festival, on 14th January 2018.
