Tamil Nadu BJP chief says Rajinikanth will be part of NDA for 2019 elections

On Sunday, minutes after Rajinikanth announced his political future, and maintained that he will take a call on Lok Sabha polls “when the time comes”, BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan told the media that Rajinikanth’s political outfit will be part of NDA for 2019 polls.

Rajinikanth, Rajinikanth politics, Rajinikanth party, Rajini joins politics, indian Express

Asked how Rajinikanth’s move will impact DMK, Stalin said it has nothing to do with DMK’s politic. (PTI)

While many political observers see Rajinikanth’s entry into politics as impacting smaller, identity-based political parties of Tamil Nadu — and to some extent opposition DMK, which was expecting to gain from the anti-incumbency mood whenever state elections are held — some leaders of these parties questioned the actor’s political popularity in the state in the long run, given that he is seen as being close to the BJP.

On Sunday, minutes after Rajinikanth announced his political future, and maintained that he will take a call on Lok Sabha polls “when the time comes”, BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan told the media that Rajinikanth’s political outfit will be part of NDA for 2019 polls. “His move may not only spoil the chances of DMK in the next polls, it may also kill other possibilities of emerging political alternatives. The impact will be more on smaller parties, as Rajinikanth is trying to translate his matinee idol image,” Ramu Manivannan, senior professor of politics at University of Madras, maintained.

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DMK working president M K Stalin did not agree that his party will be negatively impacted. Asked how Rajinikanth’s move will impact DMK, Stalin said it has nothing to do with DMK’s politics. “We will continue to do our work,” he added. While DMK, having already suffered defeat in R K Nagar bypolls, is expected to find it tough to face one more “opposition leader” in Rajinikanth besides T T V Dinakaran, smaller parties such as S Ramadoss’s Vanniyar caste-based PMK, Dalit party VCK, G K Vasan’s smaller outfit that failed to take off, and Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi are among those that may face a setback.

A senior PMK leader said Rajinikanth may do a repeat of what Captain Vijayakanth’s DMDK did to the PMK and other smaller parties a decade ago. But, the leader, added, “Rajinikanth may get a maximum of 10 per cent votes in his first election but he cannot sustain for long (in Tamil Nadu politics), as his pro-BJP stand is already being questioned.”

Claiming that Rajinikanth has been given an “assignment” by BJP, D Ravikumar, general secretary of VCK, said his political entry is not a threat for parties in the entire state, “unlike” that of M G Ramachandran. Manivannan also said Rajinikanth’s “acting as a front of BJP will not help him in Tamil Nadu politics”.

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