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The man who was in large measure responsible for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagan-Tamil Maanila Congress combine coming to power in Tamil Nadu in the 1996 assembly polls has not shown any preference for either of the combines which will battle it out this time around.
Disenchantment with the political class and the confusing signals emanating from the electoral arena are the reasons for Tamil superstar Rajnikanth's reticence.
'Rekkai katti parakkuthamma, Annamalai cycle...' (Annamalai's cycle is flying high...) - These lines from Rajnikanth's movie Annamalai were politically immortalised when the fledgling TMC made it the 'theme song' of the party.
Its founder G K Moopanar also choose - some say, calculatedly - the bicycle as the party's election symbol in 1996 and rode to power along with the DMK after handing the AIADMK a crushing defeat.
Rajnikanth's public call against the AIADMK and then chief minister J Jayalalitha - oft-telecast by the DMK-sympathetic Sun TV network on poll-eve in 1996 - raised the tempo of the Opposition campaign to an apolitical and moralistic level.
"If Jayalalitha were returned to power," went the punch line in Rajnikanth's televised statement, "even god cannot save Tamil Nadu." His God seemed to have responded what with the AIADMK being drubbed at the hustings and Jayalalitha herself losing her native Bargur assembly seat by a huge margin.
Today, DMK leader M Karunanidhi and Moopanar have drifted diametrically apart and Rajnikanth is said to be a disillusioned man, as far as politics goes.
In 1996, the TMC led the fight against AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha, going so far as to split from the parent Congress party when the central leadership insisted on allying with the tainted leader.
This time around the TMC has forgiven, though not forgotten, the AIADMK's 'misdeeds' in power, much to Rajnikanth's disapproval. However, some, like P Chidambaram, continue to keep their distance from the AIADMK.
Rajnikanth is yet to launch a new movie after Padayappa, which was a huge grosser. That was two years ago, and the super-star is under immense pressure from his fans to launch a new movie.
The Tamil film industry is also looking up to him to turn its fortunes upwards with another mega-grosser.
He cannot afford to fail them or himself by delivering a dud, which could spell the end to his film career itself, thus making Rajnikanth more careful than ever about his next venture.
With a thin line dividing his film projects and his political strategy, Rajnikanth is not so sure about the reception to his next film at the box-office considering the current political scenario in the state.
Rajnikanth's own part-involvement in politics, through his sermons to his fans and appeals to voters, has contributed to this state of affairs.
In Valli, his first acknowledged home project, he appeared as a drunkard and delivered hard-hitting lines addressing political maladies. Then came Mannan, in which he put down an arrogant woman - no prize for guessing the real-life scenario - followed by a series of movies where political messages were seen interspersed in the dialogues and punch-lines.
Padayappa was all about a vengeful woman out to destroy him, for an imagined slight from a youthful past.
Ramya Krishna, kin of Rajnikanth's journalist-friend, Cho Ramaswamy, carried off the role so well that she bagged special awards.
Cho and Moopanar may have unwittingly or otherwise contributed to Rajni's current troubles.
Having publicly declared his support to the TMC-DMK combine, in the formation of which he contributed in no small measure along with Cho, Rajnikanth now feels betrayed by the parting of ways.
After taking the moral high ground against Jayalalitha, he could ill-afford to see Moopanar and the TMC going along with her, or Cho working for the TMC-AIADMK alliance.
However, having opted out of direct involvement in politics, joining any existing political party or launching one of his own, he could not complain. For, that has been the line both Moopanar and Cho were known to have taken before considering the Jayalalitha option.
At one stage, Moopanar was even considering Rajnikanth as a political heir.
But Rajnikanth was not willing to play ball, either by agreeing to lead the TMC - Moopanar had publicly asked him to do so - or by launching his own political outfit.
Rajnikanth seems firmly against launching a political party of his own, which some analysts claim, may have a bright future on the lines of those launched by the late MGR and NTR before him.
But friends say that the superstar is not cut out for the rough and tumble of day-to-day politics, whose men and methods upset him no end.
As they point out, Rajni's philosophical approach is unlike anything seen in the world of films. Such a person, they say, cannot find peace or solace in politics.
Rajnikanth's His living gods seem to be failing him, one after the other, and he has no solution to stem the tide.
Significantly, if the Tamil voter went by Rajni's words and voted out the AIADMK in 1996, just two years later, they ignored him, wholly or partially, to vote against the ruling DMK-TMC combine.
At that time, some acknowledged and identified fans of the super-star had gone so far as to pull down his cut-outs when he went on air defending the DMK-TMC combine.
Today, with approaching assembly elections, the fans again look up to Rajnikanth for directions. Some of them point out that both the DMK and the TMC ignored them after using them as footmen in the assembly election.
Despite this, most fans would like their superstar to tell them what to do with their vote and whom to expend their energies on this time.
Some say Rajni's sympathies are still with the DMK-led alliance. But he is said to be upset over the DMK parting company with Vaiko's MDMK.
He is equally disenchanted by Moopanar's alliance with the very same AIADMK that both of them had together fought against in 1996.
In this context, state BJP president K P Kirubanidhi is on record urging Rajnikanth to campaign for the party, for which the superstar had expressed sympathy in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls.
DMK's 'rising son' M K Stalin too is believed to be wooing the superstar, whom he befriended in 1996. He is said to be in constant touch with Rajnikanth, briefing him on the latest developments in state politics and seeking his views, where needed.
However, Rajnikanth Fans Association chief K Sathyanarayana, who is also his closest aide and Man Friday, has been touring the state advising the fans to devote their energies to social service. If there is any 'message' from Rajni on the election front, it would be delivered in good time, is what he has been saying.
Otherwise, no message is good message, and that by itself should be a message.
For his part, it is said, Rajnikanth would not want to a repeat of 1998.
One argument goes that the Tamil voter's mood has changed vastly over the past decade and the 'new generation' voter does not confuse his filmi tastes with his political preferences.
If Rajnikanth was seen as winning the 1996 polls for the DMK-TMC combine, it was only because he reflected the public mood and was swimming with the current.
Were he to swim against the current, as in 1998, the results on the poll front and also on his image would be disastrous, they assert.
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