Rajinikanth has said that he will launch a political party in January.
Chennai:
Many say superstar Rajinikanth’s catchphrase of “spiritual politics” in Tamil Nadu could significantly hurt the ruling AIADMK in the state that will hold elections early next year.
In recent years, the AIADMK, they say, has grappled with the absence of a strong leader after the death of J Jayalalitha. With the party in power for the past nine years, he too faces opposition and the cadre could be drawn to the bigger picture of the 69-year-old movie star.
With critics labeling Rajinikanth as the BJP’s “Team B”, the DMK opposition is hopeful to keep its fold intact, including minorities, regardless of whether Rajinikanth fights alone or supports the AIADMK-BJP alliance.
Political analyst and senior journalist GC Sekhar told NDTV: “Rajinikanth’s kind of spiritual politics will again eat AIADMK, which is full of Hindus going to the temple. Rajinikanth’s entrance will affect AIADMK to a greater extent than DMK. .
With a boost in the fight against corruption, employment and village development, actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, who made his political downfall long before Rajinikanth, also hopes to solidify his position in assembly polls. His party, the MNM, won almost 4 percent of the vote in the Lok Sabha elections.
These would be the first assembly elections in Tamil Nadu after the deaths of two icons, J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi. In their first Lok Sabha elections after the death of the leaders, the DMK swept the polls and the AIADMK all but disappeared. Both stars hope to make a political space for themselves.
Although a third front has not been successful in Tamil Nadu, the two Dravidian archrivals are certainly taken aback by Rajinikanth’s announcement. In 1996, a one-liner from Rajinikanth had defeated Jayalalithaa and catapulted the DMK to power. Two decades later, the upcoming election could be a litmus test for the superstar’s political charisma.
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