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Rajnikanth gets down to politicking again

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

Tamil superstar Rajnikanth Gaekwad is said to be planning a 'third front' in the state that will exclude both the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its rival, the All-India Anna DMK.

He broached the subject with Marumalarchi DMK general secretary Vaiko, formerly known as V Gopalasamy, earlier this week when he called on the politician to bless his son whose wedding last month Rajnikanth could not attend.

Though a courtesy call, politics was also discussed at the ninety-minute meeting, sources said.

A trenchant critic of former chief minister Jayalalitha Jayaram and her AIADMK, the actor is disillusioned with the DMK as well.

He had campaigned vigorously for the DMK's alliance with the Tamil Maanila Congress in the 1996 general election. In fact, he had also catalysed the TMC's birth and its alliance with the DMK. That election saw the AIADMK-Congress alliance getting routed and M Karunanidhi returning as chief minister.

With a fan following estimated to account for seven per cent of the state's electorate, Rajnikanth is now keen to direct the youth's energy at his command in the 'right political direction'. His preference is for the TMC, but with that party hesitant to break with the DMK, Rajnikanth is working out other options, the sources said.

Ideally, Rajnikanth would like to see the TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the dominant partner in the ruling coalition at the Centre, working together, but TMC president G Karuppaiah Moopanar is still against such an arrangement.

Another proposal is for the TMC to walk out of its alliance with the DMK and lead a third front, of which the MDMK too could be a senior partner. Rajnikanth would also like former AIADMK minister S Thirunavukkarasu's MGR-ADMK to join such a combine, though no details have been worked out.

A TMC-MDMK combine, sources in both parties agreed, will be formidable. But again the TMC has reservations, thanks to its Congress past-cum-tilt, and the latter's periodic eulogy of Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, an accused in the Rajiv Gandhi murder. Moreover, Vaiko is now also an ally of the BJP.

Actually, sections within the MDMK were also open to a DMK-MDMK-BJP alliance. "Our differences were only with Karunanidhi's leadership. If we could ally with the AIADMK and the BJP, what could stop us from doing business with our parent party, particularly when cadre-level co-ordination would be better?" asked an MDMK ideologue.

But the DMK seems to be drifting away from the BJP, whose stock is also falling. MDMK sources agreed that the BJP would give them a better deal than the TMC, but that by itself may not be enough to win. For a victory, the TMC seems a better bet.

Moopanar and Vaiko are said to be keeping a line open. But the future course will be decided not by them alone. The TMC is awaiting signals from the Congress to its earlier offer of co-ordination, and does not want to split the traditional Congress votes in the state, accounting for 18 per cent of the electorate even though the party lost power in Tamil Nadu 30 years ago.

An alliance without the Congress, when the TMC will be forced to back the party at the national level, could also confuse voters.

It is in this context that Rajnikanth's meeting with Vaiko assumes significance. But the superstar is still open to the DMK also, unlike the AIADMK. Karunanidhi's sons, Madras Mayor M K Stalin and his elder brother M K Azhagiri, are among his friends. Stalin called on Rajnikanth on the latter's birthday, an honour the superstar bestows on a select few.

But Rajnikanth, a theist, is peeved by the renewed pro-Tamil, anti-Sanskrit crusade of the DMK and the chief minister's slight to the Kanchi Kamakoti Shankaracharyas. He even joined issue with Karunanidhi on the existence of god at a state-sponsored film awards function, for which the Dravidar Kazhagam has been running him down.

The Rajnikanth Fans Association has also been receiving complaints about the non-performance of the DMK government, ministers, and elected representatives. The more ambitious of the fans are also annoyed at their requests for favours being turned down by the powers-that-be.

Rajnikanth is also toying with the idea of entering politics, the sources said. Some say this very threat could scare the others into joining hands as he wishes. But others cite Moopanar's open offer to Rajnikanth to lead the TMC. Moopanar is known to respect Rajnikanth's sincerity and does not want his fan following to drift into "the wrong hands". At the same time, he does not want to do anything that could embarrass a good friend and well-wisher, and wants Rajnikanth to take his own time to arrive at a decision.

Meanwhile, uncharitable sections of the film industry have attributed Rajnikanth's political forays to his need to draw public attention whenever a new film of his is due for release. He is now working on a home production, Padayappa, due for release on Tamil New Year's Day, mid-April. That being the case, his meeting with Vaiko is seen as Rajnikanth recruiting the youthful party to add to his own fan following.

Be that as it may, Rajnikanth is proceeding with abundant caution this time. In the general election earlier this year, the Rajni myth was exploded when his last-minute campaign, exonerating the ruling DMK and Muslims of blame for the Coimbatore blasts, failed to click. The AIADMK-led alliance, which included the BJP, won hands down.

Critics also say Rajni fans are not as loyal as those of late matinee idol and chief minister M G Ramachandran. They doubt if the fans would have voted with him in 1996 too if he had swum against the tide and campaigned for Jayalalitha and the AIADMK.

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