BJP trying to woo Rajini to make inroads in TN: CPI

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to "woo" Tamil superstar Rajinikanth in its bid to make inroads into Tamil Nadu, the Communist Party of India (CPI) alleged today.
But Rajinikanth was a "sensible" man who understood the cultural history of Tamil Nadu, which would not accept the "BJP brand of politics", CPI national secretary D Raja said, referring to media reports that the popular actor might join the BJP.
The BJP currently has a marginal presence in Tamil Nadu, where the political sphere is mainly dominated by the two regional players, the AIADMK and the DMK.
"The reports are merely speculative. But they also shows the BJP's desperation and its exertion of pressure on Rajinikanth," the Rajya Sabha member from the southern state said.

He reiterated that the BJP was trying to "fish in troubled waters" in Tamil Nadu after the death of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December last year and saw its effort to "woo" Rajinikanth as one such attempt.
"The BJP is trying to exert pressure on the AIADMK, which stands divided. Now it is exerting pressure on Rajinikanth," he added.