Rajini puts foot down on fan contesting in his name

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Upset over the headquarters’ diktat not to use superstar Rajini’s name and his fan club flag, dejected Rajinikanth fan club district secretary Sridhar has decided to withdraw his candidature from the Pudukottai Assembly by-poll.

He held discussions on Friday with other office-bearers of Pudukottai and neighbouring districts and has decided to withdraw his papers on Monday.

“After 25 years of devoted service as a member of thalaivar’s fan club, I took the liberty of using his club’s name for the ensuing by-poll. But now I have decided to withdraw from the election after repeated insistence from headquarters and their objection to my using Rajinikanth’s
name or his fan club flag,” he told said over phone on Friday.

Mr Sudhakar, head of Rajini’s fan club associations, told me how Rajinikanth was upset at my move and asked me to refrain from using his name. “If thalaivar orders, which ardent fan will dare go against it?”

The diehard fan, however, couldn’t hide his disappointment. “When our superstar was ailing, we prayed fervently and even fulfilled our vows to pierce our cheeks for his speedy recovery, but…” he trails off.

Recalling Mr Sudhakar’s instructions about contesting in the by-poll, Mr Sridhar remarks, “Who will vote for me if I contest as an Independent? I will withdraw from the contest as I have discussed Friday with other functionaries who extended support for my decision.”

Mr Sudhakar even called on Thursday to know my decision, he informed. Mr Sridhar filed his nomination papers on Monday to contest in the Pudukottai Assembly by-poll scheduled for June 12.

Passes issued for star campaigners

The state election department has issued over 150 star campaigner passes for various political parties including AIADMK for the ensuing Pudukottai bypoll campaigns.

In a release issued by state CEO Praveen Kumar, he said, AIADMK and DMDK had been issued 40 passes each, while All-India Samathuva Makkal Katchi was given 20 passes for star campaigners.
The names of star campaigners can be seen on the website elections.tn.nic.in

As per the commission’s instructions, the expenditure on transport of star campaigners of a party is not included in the expenditure of the candidate of the party for whom they have been campaigning.

However, if the star campaigners of one party are campaigning for a candidate of another party, then the entire expenditure of the star campaigner including transport to and from the headquarters would be added to the expenditures of the candidate, the release added.