Bengaluru: Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth on Sunday announced that he would not be contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections nor extending support to any other political outfit, ending months of speculation including hope that he would cash in on the existing political vacuum in Tamil Nadu. The 69-year old superstar, however said that the aim of his yet-to-be-announced political party was the assembly polls and not parliamentary currently. Rajinikanth had floated an outfit called Rajini Makkal Mandram as a precursor to his plans of launching a political party. Both Rajinikanth and Hassan had made grand claims of cleaning the political system, hoping to end the dominance of the AIADMK and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (DMK). "This was on expected lines and changes little," Sumant Raman, a Chennai based political analyst said.

Source: Mint February 17, 2019 09:55 UTC