Chennai: The BJP, which is desperately trying to lure Tamil ‘superstar’ Rajinikanth into its fold, admitted a popular actor Ponnambalam, who had played the role of antagonist in numerous films including ones starred by Rajini, into the party on Wednesday.
Ponnambalam who had acted in a number of movies, including Rajini’s blockbusters Muthu and Arunachalam had started his career as a stuntman. He had also acted in Honest Raj, Michael Madana Kamarajan too, and his most recent works include Parandhu Sella Vaa and Enakku Innoru Peru Irukku.
He joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan here. Speaking to reporters later, Ponnambalam said the BJP is the only party which could deliver good governance and mitigate the sufferings of the people.
“No other party is really concerned about the welfare of people. Hence, I decided to join the Bharatiya Janata Party,” he said and added that he would play a key role in taking the BJP’s policies and the Central government’s initiatives to the people. On the crisis within the ruling AIADMK, he said the AIADMK no longer maintains “the discipline that was upheld by former Chief Ministers M.G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa.
Ponnambalam joins the long list of film personalities including popular music composer-filmmaker Gangai Amaran, directors Kasthuri Raja and Visu, actors Napoleon, Gayathri Raghuram and ‘Power Star’ Dr Srinivasan, who had joined the saffron party. He has to his credit a record of acting in over 1,000 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hind languages.
He was formerly a member of the AIADMK and had campaigned for the party during elections.
