Campaigning Against Corruption: How Rajini Once Caused Jayalalithaa a Crushing Defeat
Rajini has been dropping hints about his political aspirations since the 1990s, and made it official only on 31 December 2017.
In 1996, late AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa after completing her first term as chief minister, faced a lot of criticism following an “ostentatious display of wealth” at her foster son Sudhakaran’s wedding in Chennai. Several allegations against Jayalalithaa of corruption and amassing of wealth were also doing the rounds. Union Minister of State for Commerce P Chidambaram had then led the corruption campaign against Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK government.
This is when came the birth of Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC). TMC and DMK then joined hands, and journalist and political commentator Cho Ramaswamy, who is said to have brought the duo together brought in his friend superstar Rajinikanth to campaign for the alliance.
The actor’s punchline from a campaign speech in 1996,…