Chennai: Southern superstar Rajinikanth ascending from dilly-dallying few months ago to stern reticence now on actively entering politics, has only been prolonging the annoying suspense for the BJP, which is looking for charismatic allies in Tamil Nadu ahead of the Lok Sabha elections this year.
The saffron party's dilemma got acute more recently in December last when Rajinikanth not only termed the BJP's electoral defeat in three Assembly elections in the Hindi-speaking belt of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan as not only a "setback" for it, but also indicated that BJP was "losing its influence".
Barely a month down the line and few days before the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi is to launch several development schemes in Madurai on January 27, which is also billed as Modi kick-starting his party's poll campaign in Tamil Nadu, the saffron party's state president Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan has not lost one resourceful opportunity to find, if need be, new substitute for Rajinikanth.
With time being the essence in politics, the pro-active Dr Tamilisai, who tried to rope in the popular Tamil actor and 'Karuppu MGR' Vijayakanth towards the BJP-fold before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but did not quite succeed, now appears to see in the growing popularity of 'Thala', actor Ajith Kumar, as a potential BJP ally.
Floating a strategic trial balloon at a function in Tirupur recently in the western belt where the BJP has a notable presence in terms of vote-share, Dr Tamilisai sought to woo Ajith, basking in the glory of his 'Viswasam'.
She had declared that Ajith is the most honest person in the Tamil film industry, who intends to do good to the people and his fans must follow suit and help take the welfare measures of PM Modi to the Tamil masses and thereby help the "lotus bloom". Ajith, with his impressive handlebar mush, confidence and strength as seen in his latest flick, can not only play the benign patriarch, respecting women and traditional values, but could also be a promising huge pan-OBC draw across Tamil Nadu in the absence of Rajinikanth.
But 'Thala' was not the one to taken in by such overtures. Without referring to any BJP leader's name, he in a statement here on Monday categorically ruled out any political role for himself, nor for his fans. Referring to some reports seeking to link him and his fans with "some political events", he said he had never nurtured any political ambition nor envisaged any such instrumental role for his fans to enable his entry into politics. He recalled he even disbanded his fan clubs some time back to stamp out even "doubts" about any political agenda.
"What I want to tell people at this point of time is that I don't have any direct or hidden political ambitions. My supreme political association is to stand in the queue as one among the ordinary masses and cast my vote in the election; but I have never told my fans, nor ever will tell them, to vote for any political party or candidate," said Ajith in a hard-hitting statement. "Though I have my personal political preferences, I never impose my views on others including my fans."
'Thala' also used the opportunity to urge his fans to do their respective duties in accordance with the station they are in: students should study well, those in business and industry do their jobs well and the like, while being law-abiding citizens and promoting human goodwill and unity for a healthy society. Those candid words from the 'total professional actor' seem a hard slap on Dr Tamilisai at least "at this point of time".
