Rajini’s party launch likely to be postponed

Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth is said to have postponed the launch of his political party amid the agitation across the state, which has led to the shifting of the IPL matches of Chennai Super Kings to Pune for the remainder of the season.   

Now, with the film industry strike, the Sterlite protest as well as the ongoing campaign for the Cauvery Management Board, key members of Rajini Makkal Mandram, the nodal body for all of the actor’s fan clubs, has apparently decided that it wouldn’t be an appropriate time for Rajinikanth to announce his party. 

Further, it could also be seen as a distraction to take away attention from the other causes. 

Though Rajinikanth has always maintained that no formal decision was made on when he would enter politics, since his announcement in December last year, it was strongly expected that April 14 — Tamil New Year day — was an appropriate date for the Rajini Makkal Mandram to transition into a political outfit. 

However, now Rajinikanth is expected to wait it out until all the agitations for various issues in Tamil Nadu end, and then take his time to plan the launch properly in a grand manner. His political contemporary and friend Kamal Haasan and his Makkal Needhi Maiam have also put the rest of their political tour and plans to convert TN villages on hold until the issues are resolved. 

Rajinikanth had courted controversy on Wednesday when he took to Twitter to criticise the action of protestors during the anti-IPL agitation. He had condemned them for attacking police personnel. However, his tweets received mixed response from political parties, with some condemning it and others welcoming it.