None can turn leader overnight: Minister

‘If Rajini, Kamal join the AIADMK, they should work their way to the top’

Sellur K. Raj

With Tamil Culture Minister Ma Foi K. Pandiarajan suggesting that actor Rajinikanth could well join the AIADMK, his Cabinet colleague Sellur K. Raju on Sunday said that anyone willing to join the AIADMK was welcome to do so, but the party was not the place for people who wished to join in leadership positions.

Speaking in Madurai, the Cooperation Minister said, “Be it Rajinikanth or Kamal Haasan, if they want to join the party only as leaders, this [AIADMK] is not the place [for them].”

Grassroots entry

In response to a question from a journalist, he said anyone could join the party at the grassroots level. Based on their work, the party would move them up the ranks. “We cannot say one can join today and can become a leader tomorrow,” he argued.

Incidentally, Mr. Rajinikanth, who is busy preparing the ground to launch his political party, had never hinted that he would be open to taking up a leadership position in the AIADMK, which is functioning under the dual leadership of Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (coordinator) and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami (co-coordinator).