Rajinikanth will be part of Karunanidhi’s statue unveiling ceremony at the DMK party headquarters in Teynampet today. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Kamal Haasan are also expected to be part of the event.
“Tomorrow is a very emotional day for us and at the same time it is a significant show of strength from the DMK and other secular parties to the Centre and state,” said A Saravanan, spokesperson of the DMK, in an India Today report. Sonia Gandhi will unveil the 8-feet tall bronze statue and deliver the keynote address at 5.p.m. today.
Karunanidhi passed away on August 7 this year, aged 94. According to a News18 report, his statue will be located next to a refurbished statue of DMK founder C.N. Annadurai. With leaders of various political parties like Trinamool Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Janata Dal (Secular), Nationalist Congress Party, Telugu Rashtriya Samiti and Aam Admi Party expected for the ceremony, the event will also be a show of solidarity by the opposition parties against the BJP.
DMK President MK Stalin along with his sister Kanimozhi had visited the national capital to invite party supremos such as Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Arvind Kejriwal. Invites have also been extended to the neighbouring states’ chief ministers like Chandrababu Naidu, Pinarayi Vijayan and Puducherry CM Narayanaswamy.
Sources close to Rajinikanth have confirmed his attendance. Though the actor had been considered close to Kalingar, he was recently criticized by the DMK who called him a “puppet in the hands of certain communal forces.”
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They were allegedly referring to the actor’s inclination towards the BJP. Rajinikanth showed signs of allying with the BJP when he said that the combined might of all the opposition parties won’t suffice in stopping Narendra Modi.
The actor later went back on this stand after the election results of Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were out. “This clearly shows that the BJP has lost its influence,” said the actor during a press conference organized after the declaration of the results.