CHENNAI, Mar 23: Amid the turmoil in the faction-ridden ruling AIADMK with the Election Commission freezing the party’s Two Leaves symbol following a split, Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth today said he would not support any one in the April 12 byelection to the R K Nagar Assembly seat.
”My support is for no one in the coming election.”, Rajinikanth tweeted. His stand comes in the backdrop of BJP candidate and popular music composer Gangai Amaran meeting the actor at his residence two days back after his candidature was announced by the Party High Command.
After the meeting, Gangai Amaran expressed the hope that the actor, who welcomed him with love and affection, would support him in the bypoll, which was necessitated following the death of AIADMK leader and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on December five last year.
It may be noted that whenever the State faces elections–whether it is for the Legislative Assembly or Lok Sabha–there were calls, especially from his fans and some political outfits, appealing to take the proverbial plunge into politics.
But he managed to stay away from it, though he once said ”If God desired it, he will enter politics”.
A neighbour of Ms Jayalalithaa at Poes Garden area in the city, Rajinikanth’s appreciation for her was well known, despite his critical comment in 1996 Assembly polls that “even god can’t save Tamil Nadu if Jayalalithaa was voted to power” that led to her defeat.
A decade later, he praised her as “the reincarnation of (goddess) ”ashtalakshmi”.
Even during the heightened campaign during 2014 Lok Sabha election when Narendra Modi had met Rajinikanth, he refrained from being actively involved in politics.
The BJP, which was eager to have a foothold in Tamil Nadu by projecting itself as an alternative to the two Dravidian Majors–AIADMK and the DMK– with the promise of providing a transparent and corruption-free governnace, has been looking for an opportunity to make inroads in the state, and had also openly invited the 66-year-old actor to join politics, especially to fill the political vacuum created by the death of Ms Jayalalithaa.
Rajinikanth’s stand that he would not extend support to any one in the bypoll comes in the backdrop of the split in the AIADMK resulting in the EC freezing the popular Two leaves symbol, to which the two warring factions led by Sasikala and rebel leader O Panneerselvam, staked their claim. (AGENCIES)
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