Chennai:
There are few public personalities that Tamil Nadu loves as much as actor Rajinikanth.
So who he voted for in yesterday's election has become a hot topic. Especially because television cameras that followed him into the polling booth seemed to capture his hand hovering near the two-leaves election symbol of Jayalalithaa's AIADMK.
That may have led to some uneasy conversation a few hours later when Rajinikanth sat next to DMK Chief M Karunanidhi at a screening of new film Ponnar Shankar. Mr Karunanidhi hopes to return as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The period film is based on the novel written by him by the same name.
In 1996, Rajinikanth had famously declared "Even God can't save Tamil Nadu if Jayalalithaa is elected to power". The DMK won that election. The superstar later made up with Jayalalithaa and she attended his daughter's wedding in Chennai in November 2004.