Won’t contest LS polls: Rajinikanth
CHENNAI:Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth said on Sunday that he will neither contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, nor will he support any party in the upcoming elections.
Rajinikanth, who had floated his outfit the Rajini Makkal Mandram (RMM) on December 31, 2017, as a precursor to launching a political party, asked the people to vote for a party which would form a strong government at the Centre and would work towards solving Tamil Nadu’s water problem. “No one should use my photo or flags in the name of Rajini MakkalM an drama nd Raj in iF an Club to support or campaign for any party,” the 68-year-old actor said in a statement.
The announcement ends speculations in the state that the Tamil superstar might support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the summer’s Lok Sabha elections. Sunday’s announcement came after he met RMM’s 32 district secretaries at his
Poes Garden residence. “We are not going to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The Tamil Nadu legislative assembly elections are our single target,” the statement read. There had been speculation in the state that Rajinikanth would launch his political party on December 12, 2018, his birthday. On Sunday, he said he was in no rush. “It will take some more time as we have to complete certain works and be ready,” he said. The actor had said that a vacuum prevails in Tamil Nadu politics after the demise of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa.
With his statement mentioning Tamil Nadu’s water concerns, some analysts speculated that Rajinikanth may have been hinting at backing regional parties. “Cauvery water is the major issue in Tamil Nadu. Since the Congress and the BJP have a better footing in Karnataka than Tamil Nadu, they are likely to consider the interests of Karnataka first. So, Rajini might have opted for TN’s regional parties,” said Tharaasu Shyam, a political analyst.
Rajinikanth had favoured linking rivers in the early 2000s. He had also observed a hunger strike and pledged to donate ₹1 crore for the scheme.
Meanwhile, the president of BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit said she saw Rajinikanth’s comments as a “positive” development for her party. “The people of Tamil Nadu know who is strong in the Centre now and which party has sorted out the water issue. Rajini has taken the right decision. We take this announcement in a positive way,” said Tamilisai Soundararajan.
A few hours after Rajinikanth’s announcement, his celluloid colleague and Makkal Needhi Maiam president Kamal Haasan said that people would not respect leaders who announce their political entry but were not willing to face elections. “As I have entered politics, I cannot avoid elections… As a political party, we should face elections. If we say that we will see in the next elections, then people will not respect us,” Haasan said.