Sir — This refers to the article, “Into Tamil Nadu’s heart of darkness” (January24) by Kalyani Shankar. The writer’s observation that ‘golden days have gone’ when stardom would per se be a licence to make political success holds good. Way back in the 1980s, a stalwart political leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, HN Bahuguna, had to face defeat at the hands of superstar Amitabh Bachchan, a novice in politics at that time. The same rule is applicable in the case of superstar duo, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, who are waiting in the wings to join Tamil Nadu politics.
In fact, their star status may help them find the cadres through their respective fan clubs and they can also exploit to their electoral benefit the leadership crunch both in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, following the death of J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi sitting out for old age, respectively.
But the most significant issues faced by these aspirant leaders could be fund raising and their respective election manifesto — or a joint one in the event of them working together — with a view to wooing the voters through some novel narratives enticing enough to prevail upon common public to vote en masse for them while an alliance with like-minded parties also remains a matter of deliberation given the electorate will be expecting much from them.