Will Rajinikanth’s ‘support’ translate into votes for BJP in TN

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 14

Megastar Rajinikanth is in the news again, this time with comments “favouring” Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

For the BJP, which is trying to make inroads in the politically complex Dravadian state, any local support would be more than welcome. But whether Rajinikanth will eventually become a part of this “juggernaut” remains to be seen.

There are several reasons to believe otherwise. For one, Rajinikanth may be a powerful film star with a huge fan following, but whether that fan base will translate into vote base is an unknown factor.

The BJP won just one of the 39 seats in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and has no major cadre support there. However, since then much has changed. There has been a tectonic shift in Dravadian politics after the death of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa and DMK supremo M Karunanidhi.

While the AIADMK is split wide open under various heads, DMK’s MK Stalin, while trying to emerge on his own, is also battling factors within. Meanwhile, the BJP is already “in power in the state through the backdoor” via the AIADMK-led state government, so believe political observers.

However, they say the BJP “miscalculated Tamil Nadu politics in its efforts to gain control after the death of Jayalalithaa. The resurgence of TTV Dhinakaran and the many-way split in the AIADMK is a proof of complexities of southern politics”.

BJP not averse to Rajinikanth
Modi, who had met him at his residence ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, is believed to be in his favour. When he had first expressed his political ambitions, BJP chief Amit Shah had welcomed him to join the party. “We welcome every good individual into the party. The final decision has to be taken by Rajinikanth ji,” Shah had said.