Chennai: Superstar Rajinikanth on Sunday said his yet-to-be launched political party will not contest the Lok Sabha poll since his ‘goal’ is the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. He has also made it clear that he would not support any political party or leader for this LS poll and even issued a directive to his fans not to use the name and flag of the Rajini Makkal Mandram, which was being touted as the harbinger of his political party.
“I will not be contesting in the upcoming Parliamentary polls. Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election is our goal”, said the star in a media statement he issued after meeting Mandram functionaries at his Poes Garden bungalow. And that should come as a big blow for the BJP as the party has been hoping to get his support even if it becomes too late for him to float his party and accept a saffron alliance.
The Superstar’s endorsement would have helped hugely considering that the BJP’s efforts to forge a fruitful alliance to take on the DMK-Congress team in TN have been on a slippery curve following open dissent from some seniors in ally AIADMK, not to forget the serious charges of allegations against the ruling party in the state.
While stepping back from the Parliament poll now, Rajinikanth did make a statement on what the voter must seriously consider as the most vital election issue — water scarcity. “Whoever you think is capable of forming a stable and strong government at the Centre and will formulate plans and implement them to end Tamil Nadu water crisis once and for all, please vote for them without fail”, he said.
The 68-year-old star has even earlier voiced concern about the water problems, particularly relating to the tussle between Tamil Nadu and his home state Karnataka over the sharing of Cauvery flows. Inter-linking of rivers and equitable sharing between the riparian states in amicable environment has been his oft-repeated formula for tackling the tricky thorn.
Though he announced his political party on the last day of 2017 and declared the TN Assembly poll as the target, Rajinikanth has now decided otherwise and the reasons are not difficult to see. Even as his Mandram came into being and took roots across the state right down to the panchayat level -there are mandram branches abroad too - not much hard work has been done in terms of political consolidation of the star’s popularity. There have not been any political rallies, posters or even pamphlets propagating the ‘thalaiva’ as the next Chief Minister, in true Dravidian style.
After making clear his heart was with the BJP and his admiration was for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Superstar has been moving away from the saffron party in recent months, perhaps realising it was costing him (his box-office) dearly when he supported the police action against the anti-Sterlite rioters in Thoothukudi, voicing concern about the excess dose of agitations in the state and ridiculing the Opposition attempts to cobble up a coalition against Modi. He had posed the question last year on who’s more powerful if ten people gang up against one person (Modi).
However, his tone changed in December after the BJP did poorly in some state elections. He said the party was losing its influence in the country. And so he could have opted out of LS polls now to save himself from the embarrassment of sharing dais with a ‘tainted’ ally.
