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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Narendra Modi meets actor Rajinikanth
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Narendra Modi meets actor Rajinikanth

Modi says he had come to wish his 'dear friend' on the ocassion of the Tamil new year; Rajinikanth said nothing political about meeting

BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi with actor Rajinikanth at the latter’s residence in Chennai on Sunday. Photo: Sai Sen/MintPremium
BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi with actor Rajinikanth at the latter’s residence in Chennai on Sunday. Photo: Sai Sen/Mint

Chennai: Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi met Tamil film actor Rajinikanth at his residence in Chennai on Sunday.

“We are good friends and there is nothing political about this meeting," said the film actor. The meeting lasted for 30 minutes.

“Modiji had visited me when I was ill and hospitalized in Ramachandra previously," Rajinikanth said.

“Tomorrow is Tamil New Year and so I came to wish my dear friend," said Modi. Neither of them took questions from reporters.

Modi’s meeting with the actor was to drum up support from his large fan base in Tamil Nadu, which will be going for Lok Sabha polls on 24 April, political commentators said. This is the second visit of Modi to Chennai in the last two months.

Last month, the BJP announced an alliance with five regional parties, including Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhgam (DMDK) and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (MDMK), and 39 smaller political outfits, and seat-sharing arrangements for the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu. This is expected to give the main opposition party a much-needed boost in a state where it has a scant presence.

“We are positive to win 25 seats out of 40 seats in Tamil Nadu (including through alliances) in 2014 elections," said Rajnath Singh, president of BJP, while announcing the seat-sharing agreement in Chennai. Tamil Nadu has 39 seats and Puducherry, a Union territory, has one.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu includes DMDK, which has been given the largest share of seats to contest—14. Pattali Makkal Katchi will contest in eight, MDMK will contest in seven and the BJP will contest in eight. Smaller parties Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi and Indiya Jananayaka Katchi will contest one seat each.

In neighbouring Karnataka, Modi launched another attack on Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi. Modi said Sonia Gandhi’s “blind love" for her son Rahul has left the country in “ruins" and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was “remote-controlled" by her.

“A mother’s blind love towards her son has left the country in ruins, to a son for whom all this has been done... Will anything come out of him? Is there anything? Will anything happen? Will you be able to believe him? Can the country live believing him?" he asked at Haveri in north Karnataka, without naming the Gandhis.

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate also latched on the contents of a book written by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s former media adviser Sanjaya Baru to accuse the UPA government of being “remote-controlled" by Sonia Gandhi.

In his book, The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking Of Manmohan Singh, Baru has said Singh seemed to “surrender" to Gandhi, playing the second fiddle.

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Published: 13 Apr 2014, 10:19 PM IST
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