CHENNAI: BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is a strong leader and an able administrator, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth said on Sunday. “My good wishes to him,” Rajinikanth told reporters after his 30-minute meeting with Modi who called on him at his Poes Garden residence in Chennai.
“There is nothing political. He met me when I was in hospital and I invited him to come home and have a cup of tea whenever he is in Chennai and he came today. I’m very happy. Everyone knows he is a strong leader and an able administrator. He is my well wisher and I am his well wisher. I pray by Gods grace whatever he thinks should happen,” the actor said.
Modi is in Chennai to address an election rally.
Despite Rajinikanth staying away from politics, the leaders are making a beeline to his residence in the run up to the polls. The suspended DMK leader and former Union minister MK Alagiri met the actor recently, but cited personal reasons for the meeting.
In 1996, the actor supported DMK-Tamil Maanila Congress combine to sweep the polls. In the successive elections, he stayed away from politics despite being wooed by national and regional parties.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the actor announced his support for BJP but the latter drew blank.
BJP senior leader LK Advani met Rajinikanth in Chennai in 2008 on the sidelines of the release of the Tamil translation of his (Advani) autobiography ‘En Desam, En Vazhkai.’ Both shared a great camaraderie at the function. However, the BJP failed to succeed in bringing Rajinikanth on board in the subsequent general elections in 2009.
