Superstar Rajinikanth took the first step yesterday in fulfilling decades-long wishes, dreams and aspirations of his millions of fans the world over by announcing at his Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam in Kodambakkam, Chennai that he would plunge into active politics and contest from all the 234 Assembly seats in the State when Assembly polls are held. Following are reactions of leading political parties to Rajini’s entry into politics, which in many observers’ views has come at just the right time:

•    Seeman (Naam Tamizhar Katchi): We would strongly oppose Rajini’s entry in politics; what policies does Rajini have to take to the people? He says the ‘system’ is not right, something which we have been saying for years together. Rajini would do well to make it clear as to what he means by ‘system’.

•    Gurumurthy, editor, Tughlaq: Rajini’s entry in politics can change the 60-year long reign of Dravidian parties over the State’s politics. Rajini’s ‘religious politics’ is close to the kind of politics indulged in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

•    Subramaniam Swamy, BJP MP: If the party enters into an alliance with Rajini’s political outfit against my opposition, I shall shift my base to some other State. Even if Rajini takes to politics, things won’t change overnight. BJP should contest all the 234 constituencies on its own.

•    Tamilisai Soundararajan, State BJP chief: Rajini’s entry won’t cause any setback to other parties. We welcome him to the world of politics with an earnest belief that he would decide to support the BJP during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. We want many sincere hands to work to rid corruption from the society and are only happy that Rajini has joined the crusade against corruption.

•    Stalin, DMK’s working president: With his decision (to enter politics), Rajini has put a full-stop to millions of his fans’ expectations for many years.  The DMK would neither lose nor gain by Rajini’s political entry.  Whatever happens, the DMK is strong enough to take everything in its stride and proceed further.

•    Tamil Nadu chief-minister Edapadi K. Palaniswami says that in a democracy, any individual can float his/her own political outfit. “AIADMK won’t suffer losses by Rajini’s political entry.  It’s a party nurtured by the late and legendary ‘Puratchithalaivi’ J. Jayalalithaa. Nobody can destroy our party,” he said.

•    Expelled DMK leader M.K. Azhagiri says Rajini’s entry in politics may cause many welcome changes. “Rajini should do for the people whatever he had in mind all these years,” Azhagiri said and added that he would soon be meeting Rajini.

•    Congress spokesperson Khushboo expressed her good wishes to Rajini on the latter’s political entry.  “Rajini is someone who has always thought about the nation’s growth.  “Best wishes to Rajini and his endeavours,” she tweeted.