The “Supreme Star” and “Super Hero” of Tamil films R Sarath Kumar joined the BJP on Tuesday after disbanding the All India Samathwa Party which he had launched. Sarath Kumar, who has acted in various roles in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu movies has a considerable fan following in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He announced on Tuesday that Narendra Modi was his role model and was all praise for the leadership of the Prime Minister.
What makes Sarat Kumar a super catch for the BJP is his qualities as a communicator par excellence while the other super star Kamal Haassan is yet to prove his credentials as a public speaker. Joseph Vijay, yet another super mega star in Tamil filmdom is not known for his oratorical skills. Vijay is in the race for the post of chief minister along with Kamal Hassan though it has to be seen whether they would make any impact in the Dravidian politics.
Sarath Kumar was a member of the Rajya Sabha during 2001 to 2006 as a DMK member and was a member of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly during 2011-2016. He was close to AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa till her last breath. Meanwhile, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhakam, founded by late film actor Vijayakanth, shut its doors on BJP as Premalatha Vijayakanth, the general secretary of the DMDK declared on Tuesday that she was against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Premalatha said that her outfit launched by Vijayakath always stands for secularism, socialism and anti-Hindutva politics.
But R V Giri, former close aide to Vijayakant, told The Pioneer that the DMDK was facing an existential crisis “The share of the party’s votes in the Lok Sabha elections held in 2009, 2014 and 2019 speak a lot about its state of affairs. Since Vijayakanth fell ill in 2016 the fortunes of the party suffered a setback from which it is yet to recover,” said Giri, who was the election manager of Vijayakanth when the latter contested the poll for the first time in 2006 assembly election.
Giri, former chief of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA), disclosed that since the demise of Vijayakanth last year, the DMDK resembled a rudderless ship. “Most of the party MLAs crossed over to the DMK in search of greener pastures and the present leadership is incapable of leading the party at this critical juncture,” said Giri.
The best performance of DMDK was during the 2011 assembly polls when the party which fought the polls as an ally of the AIADMK emerged as the second largest outfit and Vijayakanth became the Leader of the Opposition. “But he cannot sustain the momentum and had a big fight with AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa which resulted in the DMDK getting disintegrated faster than it was formed,” Giri pointed out.
Premalatha Vijayakanth, widow of the party founder who took over as the general secretary has proved time and again that she has no mettle to lead a political party. “The DMK is out to finish off the DMDK by forcing Premalatha to join the DMK. Most of the close confidantes of Vijayakanth have crossed over to the DMK,” said Giri.
The two options before Premalatha is either to join the AIADMK camp or the DMK. “She is asking for 5 Lok Sabha constituencies and a Rajya Sabha membership. Neither the DMK nor the AIADMK would part with five seats which she has asked for because the DMDK is a sinking ship,” said a veteran political commentator close to the DMDK camp.
The DMK and the AIADMK have finalized their teams and are all set to launch the campaign. TTV Dhinakaran and O Panneerselvam, have made up their mind to join the BJP camp The PMK, an outfit of the Vanniyar community, said on Wednesday that the party would decide its course of action by next week.
