Rajini sir was the first to know of my political plan, writes Kamal Haasan

CHENNAI: Was Rajinikanth aware of his long-time friend Kamal Haasan’s decision to take the political plunge much before others got a wind of it? Yes, says Kamal, while revealing his secret rendezvous with Rajinikanth in his regular column in a Tamil magazine.

Taking pride in having called on greats such as former Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan and veteran Communist leader R Nallakannu, he said that his ‘secret meeting’ with the Superstar took place much before he went to meet these leaders.

“Before calling on these greats, I had met Rajini sir. It was when Big Boss shooting was going on at Poonamallee, Rajini was in Kaala shooting at a nearby place,” the founder of Makkal Neethi Maiyyam said.

“We were talking in a car. The meeting was to let him know the decision (of political plunge) before others knew it,” he said.

The decision was taken before long but is going to be implemented now, was Kamal’s answer to his friend’s surprise query on the timing of the decision.

It is presumed that the meeting could have taken place sometime before September last year because the show ended with a grand finale on the last day in the month.

Further, disclosing the chat between the two silver screen stars, ‘Nammavar’ stated that both wanted to make it a point that the dignity they were maintaining should not be allowed to diminish even if they were to be in opposing camps in the course of their political stint, besides concurring to avoid cheap polemics and resolving to uphold values in politics.

Referring to his audience with Seshan, he said the former poll panel chief had cautioned him against deviating from ethics and gave him a title, man of ethics.

The actor, who launched his political outfit on Wednesday, was trying to make his ideological leanings clear when he said he was not differentiating between the left or the right, but wanted to be with those who deliver goods to the nation by preferring to be in a place in the Centre and the people too wanted him to do so.

“We must do whatever we need to ensure we do not slip,” he said.

Touching on the chorus for removing the term ‘secular’ from the Constitution and the video uploaded on

‘You Tube’, Kamal rued how such a (bad) change had come in the span of half-a-century.
 Taking a dig at the saffron brigade, he said the politics of violence and snuffing out lives must be changed, but sought to deny the allegation that he was belittling saffron (brigade).

Maintaining dignity in opposing camps
‘Nammavar’ stated that both wanted to make it a point that the dignity they were maintaining should not be allowed to diminish even if they were to be in opposing camps in the course of their political stint, besides concurring to avoid cheap polemics and resolving to uphold values in politics.