Chennai: Superstar Rajinikanth, who has kept everyone guessing on whether he will join politics, began meeting fans in Chennai today in a six-day outreach that is widely expected to end with him revealing his plans on December 31, New Year's Eve.
During his meeting with fans in May, Rajinikanth had said, "Let us face the war when it comes".
Rajinikanth, who has dominated southern films like a colossus for the past four decades and enjoys almost demigod-like status among his legion of followers, is expected to announce his political debut on the last day.
"There is an expectation that he will spell out his stand on entering politics. He may do it or may not...only he knows...let no one speculate," a senior functionary of the All India Rajinikanth Fans Welfare Club told reporters.
The 67-year-old actor will meet some 1,000 fans across 18 districts.
For months, the superstar whose fans call him "Thalaivar" or "Ultimate Boss", has been cryptic about diving into politics. He had triggered fan frenzy in May this year when he said, "If God wills it, I will enter politics tomorrow". But when he was later asked about his remarks, the actor said, "Whatever I had to say I said, now I have nothing more to say".
In October, it was his wife Lata Rajinikanth who predicted that a "lot of change" would happen when her husband joins politics.
Rajinikanth's fan meets come after the stunning result of by-polls at the RK Nagar constituency of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, which has reinforced the sense of a political vacuum in Tamil Nadu's ruling party after her death. The seat was bagged by TTV Dhinakaran, an AIADMK rebel and nephew of Jayalalithaa's closest aide VK Sasikala. Both were sidelined by the ruling party in a power struggle that started days after Jayalalithaa's death in December last year.
Dhinakaran's victory as an independent candidate has delivered a crushing setback to the ruling AIADMK led by Chief Minister E Palaniswami or EPS and his deputy O Panneerselvam or OPS.
The opposition DMK, which also contested in RK Nagar, failed to make a mark either.
The possibility of Rajinikanth's entry into politics has been debated for about two decades, but amid the AIADMK turmoil, speculation is intense.
The actor has kept the buzz alive with hints. In May, he said the "system is rotten" despite the presence of "efficient" leaders like DMK's MK Stalin - the son of Karunanidhi - and PMK's Anbumani Ramadoss.
Countering opposition from some pro-Tamil quarters that he is a non-Tamil (since he has Marathi roots and Karnataka origin), he had asserted that he was a "pachai Tamizhan (pure Tamilian)."
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