‘Disappointed’, says Kamal Haasan after Rajinikanth drops political plans

Superstar Rajinikanth said he will not take a plunge into politics and start a party as announced earlier, citing his frail health.

Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan said on Tuesday he was disappointed with co-star Rajinikanth’s announcement he will not join politics over his health. Rajinikanth’s decision came a day after he left the hospital in Hyderabad where he was being treated for high blood pressure.

Actor Kamal Haasan is seen in Chennai in this file photo. The Makkal Needhi Maiam leader has said he will meet Rajinikanth later.(PTI Photo)

“I will meet Rajinikanth again after my election campaign. Like his fans, I too have been disappointed but his health is important to me,” Kamal Haasan of the Makkal Needhi Maiam said, according to news agency ANI.

Superstar Rajinikanth said he will not take a plunge into politics and start a party as announced earlier, citing his frail health. “Therefore, I inform with great regret I am unable to come to politics by floating a political party. Only I know the pain behind making this announcement,” he said in a statement. He, however, said he will serve people in whatever ways he can without entering electoral politics.

The 70-year-old had announced earlier this month that he will launch his political party in January and make the details public by December 31. He had first announced in 2017 that he would indeed enter politics ahead of the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu in 2021 and field candidates from all 234 seats in the state.

Rajinikanth’s elder brother has backed the Tamil superstar’s move to withdraw his decision to launch a political party. The 77-year-old R Sathyanarayana Rao said it’s his brother’s wish and one can’t force him to change his mind.

Unlike Rajinikanth, Haasan launched Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) in 2018 in Madurai and fought the Lok Sabha elections last year with a vote share of 3.7 per cent. Haasan is in the second leg of his campaign before he heads to shoot a film in January.

Kamal will be contesting against the DMK, the AIADMK and their national partners the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It’s also the first state election after the deaths of the AIADMK’s J Jayalalitha and M Karunanidhi.