For months, Rajinikanth has been cryptic about diving into politics. (File)
Superstar Rajinikanth, who has kept his devoted fans guessing on his plunge into politics, might just unveil his plans next week. The superstar, who would be meeting legions of his fans over six days starting Tuesday, would announce his plan of action by 31 December, Tamilaruvi Manian, a Gandhian social activist in Tamil Nadu, said on Friday.
And this time, Mr Manian - who organised a meeting of thousands of Rajinikanth's fans In Trichy this August - signalled, the superstar would not leave anyone in doubt about his entry into politics.
That would be something.
For months, the superstar whose fans call him "Thalaivar" or "Ultimate Boss", has been cryptic about diving into politics. He had triggered fan frenzy in May this year when he said, "If God wills it, I will enter politics tomorrow". But when he was later asked about his remarks, the actor said, "Whatever I had to say I said, now I have nothing more to say".
In October, it was his wife Lata Rajinikanth who predicted that a "lot of change" would happen when her husband joins politics.
Rajinikanth's spokesperson hasn't commented on the announcement made by Mr Manian after a long meeting with the superstar on Friday, pointing that they did not have any information from him.
At the August meeting for Rajini fans, Mr Manian had outlined what he called Rajinikanth's plans - good governance, linking of peninsular rivers and eradicating corruption. Over 10,000 people had attended the public meeting that was seen as a trial balloon before starting his political innings.
The other actor in Tamil Nadu mulling a new day job, Kamal Haasan, had made the announcement last month. His first step was going to be a whistle-blower app that he had declared would be ready for launch by January, around the same time that he begins his tour to different parts of the state.
In sharp contrast to Kamal Haasan who has made it clear that "saffron" wasn't his colour, there has been speculation about Rajinikanth skewing towards the BJP. He also has an open offer from the BJP. Party chief Amit Shah has said Rajinikanth was welcome to join the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met him during a visit to Chennai last month.
In 1996 Rajinikanth had asked the people to support the DMK government and not its charismatic opponent J Jayalalithaa, famously declaring, "Even God can't save Tamil Nadu if Jayalalithaa comes back to power again". The DMK swept the state polls in 1996 but later the superstar later described as "a mistake and an accident".