Rajinikanth rules out political foray yet again: Timeline of superstar's political U-turns since 1996

In Tamil Nadu, a transition from cinema into politics is nothing new.

After all, CN Annadurai, M Karunanidhi, MG Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa all had successful stints as actors in the film industry before making a successful foray into politics.

After years of “will-he-won’t-he”, Tamil Nadu superstar Rajinikanth on Monday announced that he will not be entering politics and the Rajini Makkal Mandram (RMM) will instead be involved in welfare activities.

The decision came after Rajinikanth said would consult his RMM functionaries on whether or not to join politics in the future, six months after he opted out of politics. “The forum will now function as Rajini Rasigar Narpani Mandram to carry out welfare activities,” the actor said after meeting the forum members.

"I have no plans of entering politics in future," said Rajinikanth, 70, after meeting with members of his forum.

Earlier in the Bengaluru-born actor had stated that he would launch his party in January 2021 ahead of the Assembly elections. However, during the last week of December last year, he did a U-turn and announced that he would not join politics, citing his health.

But his roar of “now or never” in politics last year ended with a whimper in the same when he finally said he would not take the political plunge owing to his frail health.

However, this is not the first time he has changed his mind. Indeed, his political journey has been marred by flip-flops.

Here's a timeline of all the times the superstar took a U-turn on the political front:

With inputs from PTI