Team News Riveting
Chennai, December 29
With Tamil Nadu superstar Rajinikanth’s announcement to desist from entering into electoral politics, one man will heave a sigh of relief.
This announcement may have left his fan club members disappointed, but it has come as a big breather for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS).
Betting on Rajinikanth, the BJP had put its ally AIADMK in the dock. The party had hoped that actor Rajinikanth’s party would change equations in the poll-bound state. But the political landscape in Tamil Nadu has changed dramatically.
According to political observers, the BJP leadership was reluctant to project EPS as the Chief Minister’s candidate of the alliance. The party did not want any AIADMK leader to emerge as a tall figure. It hoped to stitch an alliance between BJP, AIADMK and Rajinikanth with the superstar projected as the leader of the coalition.
Now, given the change in scenario, EPS’ position as the sole face of the alliance has been cemented and his close aides believe that it will be a matter of time before the BJP too publicly endorses him.
