MK Stalin's son mulls career in politics

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam working president MK Stalin's son and producer-turned-actor Udhayanidhi expressed his wish to take up an active role in politics in the view of many actors – Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan – taking a political plunge.

The 40-year-old Udhayanidhi will be the third generation politician from the family of DMK chief M Karunanidhi following his father Stalin, uncle Alagiri and aunt Kanimozhi.

"I had campaigned for my father in the Thousands Lights Assembly seat and for Thalaivar (Karunanidhi). I had accompanied my father during his several campaigning tours. After I started working in movies, I had kept myself away from the politics. Now all the actors are entering politics. So I think it is time for me to play an active role," Udhayanidhi said in an interview to a Tamil website.

Both Rajinikanth and Haasan, the two top actors of Tamil cinema, have announced their political forays, proposing to float their political parties in the coming days.

Udhayanidhi made turned producer after launching Red Giant Movies in 2008 producing actor Vijay starrer Kuruvi. After producing a string of hit movies, he made a debut as hero in 2012. He has acted in the lead role in eight movies with only two movies succeeding in the box office.

Apart from his social media posts in support of his father or DMK, he had kept himself away from the politics. But his participation in the DMK's day-long fast condemning incidents involving trust motion in the state assembly in February last year created a lot of buzz. "If Udhayanidhi is thinking of making politics as his career, he must start working with the people and issues faced by them. Being a son of Stalin is not sufficient. At the same time, being a cinema actor is also not a qualification to become a political leader in Tamil Nadu. If he thinks being an actor is a qualification to enter politics, it is a poor way of understanding politics," Prof Ramu Manivannan, head of the Department of Politics, University of Madras told DNA.

A senior DMK leader in North Tamil Nadu said that Stalin would unlikely to bring in Udhayanidhi into politics anytime soon. "If at all Udhayanidhi takes a political plunge, it will in no way help the party. It will provide an opportunity for the rival parties to again start a campaign on family politics. There is still time for him to enter politics," the leader said, adding that the ruling AIADMK government has become unpopular and DMK has the momentum to come to power again.

After the humiliating defeat in the RK Nagar Assembly bypoll, the DMK is pulling its strings to ensure a good show in the ensuing local body polls. Stalin has announced he would meet party office-bearers from February 1, in an attempt to address issues concerning the party.

On Tuesday, Stalin took a veiled dig at popular actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth on their political aspirations, saying "new birds want to fly" and it remained to be seen how much distance they can cover on their strength."Aware of the political atmosphere, new birds want to fly. Democracy is a sky (common) for all. The political arena is watching how much distance a bird can fly on the strength of its wings," he said in cryptic remarks apparently aimed at the two actors. There have been instances when such "birds" that started a political flight could hardly achieve their objectives, with their journey "obstructed" after having "lost (their) way," he said, without naming anyone.