Tamil Nadu: Day after, Rajini’s App-y fizz to connect with people

CHENNAI: A day after Rajinikanth announced his political entry, he launched a website and an app to enrol people who shared his vision and wanted to join his fan club, the All India Rajinikanth Fans Association.

The superstar took to Twitter on Monday to announce the launch of his website — www.rajinimandram.org — in a short video. After thanking his fans for supporting his political endeavour and wishing them a happy new year, Rajini said the idea behind the website was to consolidate his fan following.

“Let us bring a good change in Tamil Nadu politics,” Rajini is heard saying in the video, which begins and ends with spiritual music.Later in the day, the first byte of controversy surfaced after a purported clip of Rajini meeting Swami Gautamanandaji at Ramakrishna Mutt in Mylapore went viral on social media. It showed a follower of the swami sharing with the saint as Rajini looks on, “He (Rajini) has openly said spirituality must be part of politics, not the so-called secularism.”

The website came as a surprise since Rajini made no mention about its launch during his address at Raghavendra Mandapam here on Sunday. The site borrows its theme from the cosmic backdrop of Raghavendra Mandapam and allows fans to register their name, phone number and voter ID number.
Two other wannabe politician-actors recently announced their respective apps — Kamal Haasan with ‘Maiyam Whistle’ and Vishal with ‘VShall’ before he filed his nomination papers for the RK Nagar bypoll.While the buzz around Vishal’s app died down after the Returning Officer controversially rejected his nomination papers, the release of Kamal’s whistleblowing app is expected this month.