Gen Y welcomes Rajini’s ‘clever’ decision

While politicians exhibited mixed responses to the announcement made by Rajinikanth on Sunday afternoon, youngsters lauded this move by the Superstar. “This will expose the real vote share of all the parties after the demise of Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa. 

That is important before plunging into full time politics,” read a tweet by Zeus, a Twitter user. While another from Kpmramani3 read, “Rajinikanth is tactfully supporting BJP as it is the only party advocating additional water plan for TN by connecting Godavari to Palar, so he is right.”

Speaking to DT Next, a majority of the youth from the city welcomed the announcement of Superstar. Ananth Ram, actor of Meesaya Murukku and Maanavan fame said, “His statement about water preservation proves that he cares about what the people want. It will force the BJP and Congress parties to address pressing issues in the upcoming elections.”

“He is a legend in the cinema industry because of his consistent hard work. If he showed the same openness in politics before he contests, people of my age will side with him. So, his decision to withdraw right now is a good one,” added Ananth Ram.

Meanwhile, Siddharth TV, a sales person with, said, “Rajini has realised that he still has a market in cinema after the success of Petta and that is why the actor smartly pulled out of the Lok Sabha elections. If Rajinikanth has consecutive hits, two years later there is a chance that he will withdraw from the assembly elections as well.”

Siddharth explained, “He is playing a safe game. He still must show some concern to people’s issues.”

An assistant director, Cheguvera Ezhirko said, “This is an indirect way to support BJP because the right-wing has a habit of advocating conservation of resources to win over votes. Even Jaggi Vasudev’s Rally for Rivers campaign has BJP’s support although Sadhguru, like Rajini, claims to be neutral to both parties.”

On the actor’s withdrawal from the Lok Sabha elections, “It is great that he withdrew. I feel he doesn’t primarily belong to politics in the first place. It would be ideal if he withdrew from the Assembly elections also,” laughed Cheguvera.