Chennai, Jan 1: Superstar Rajinikanth’s political outfit will be a part of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for 2019 Lok Sabha elections, said Tamilisai Soundararajan, president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Tamil Nadu unit, reports Indian Express. However, Rajinikanth, while announcing his entry into politics, maintained that he will take a call on Lok Sabha polls “when the time comes”.
In a much-anticipated moment for all his fans and well-wishers, superstar Rajinikanth on Sunday confirmed his entry into politics, adding that he will be contesting in the next state assembly elections by forming a new party. “My political entry is definite. This is a long-pending decision. I will feel guilty if I don’t take this decision at least now. In next assembly elections, I will form a party and will contest all constituencies in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Earlier in May last year, BJP national president Amit Shah said that the BJP was open to all “good people” while responding to a question on speculation about Rajinikanth entering politics. Shah, however, did not specify whether Rajinikanth would be given an invitation to join the BJP. BJP national secretary H Raja had also said Rajnikanth is a “popular” personality and is welcome to join the saffron party.
However, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy mocked Rajinikanth’s announcement on entering politics and dubbed him as illiterate. Swamy said, “One more film star is entering politics, so what is the fuss about? Maybe he has got good media managers. It is just a joke. He said he will announce the party later. He is a film star and he said he can eliminate corruption. Can film stars even eliminate corruption? What will he do for Tamil Nadu? He has no details or documents, he is illiterate.”
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) played down Rajinikanth’s announcement of joining politics and said the actor would not fare well in it as he was aligning with the BJP. “He has knowingly or unknowingly created a perception that he is aligned with the BJP or rather the BJP is aligning with him,” DMK spokesperson A Saravanan told news agency ANI.
“People will certainly not be very enthusiastic about it because they may like Rajinikanth as an individual person, but if he is going to create the perception that will be difficult for the people of Tamil Nadu to accept. We know how the BJP has been faring well in the state of Tamil Nadu and how the BJP has always given Tamil Nadu a step-motherly treatment,” Saravanan opined.