More than 24 years after making his first political statement that diminished the electoral prospects of the AIADMK in the 1996 assembly election, actor Rajinikanth has sought another 24 hours to end the suspense over his political entry.
One of the Rajini Makkal Mandram (RMM) district secretaries, who took part in a meeting the actor convened on Monday, told reporters that Rajini would announce his decision “today or tomorrow.”
A little later, Rajini told reporters in front of his Poes Garden residence: “The district secretaries have agreed to abide by whatever decision I take. I will announce my decision as soon as possible.”
Several participants at the closed-door meeting at Raghavendra marriage hall told media that Rajini explained how his precarious health condition and the prevailing pandemic were the biggest impediments to his launching a political party. Finally, the 34 RMM functionaries authorized the actor to take a decision.
“Avar arasiyal vazhkai katham katham (This is the end of his political life),” a senior RMM functionary told media, borrowing the words (katham katham) from Rajini’s 2002 movie ‘Baba’.
“He (Rajinikanth) spoke at length about his health condition following the renal transplant he underwent and concerns about his vulnerable immunity and sought our views on what direction he should take,” said an RMM functionary from Chennai.
“Rajini sir told us doctors had advised him that his immunity may be compromised even if he took a shot of the Covid vaccine,” said the functionary. The actor, sources said, held discussions with his family members as well.
Arriving at the meeting venue in Kodambakkam, the actor got out of his car before putting on a mask.
In his opening remarks at the meeting that began at 10am, Rajinikanth explained his health condition in the wake of a renal transplant he had undergone in 2016. His doctors had advised him against making any public appearance and that he was taking 14 tablets a day.
“He virtually asked us to choose between his health and politics,” said a source. “We told him that his health was foremost.” Some of the participants reeled out statistics on vote share obtained by the DMK and the AIADMK when they contested alone.
