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5 possible outcomes of the Arvind Kejriwal- Kamal Haasan meeting

  • Actor Kamal Haasan may just be weighing options by meeting with leaders of various political parties.
  • He is said to have organised lunch for the AAP leader.
  • Haasan is likely to exchange his inputs on Tamil Nadu politics with Arvind Kejriwal.
5 possible outcomes of the Arvind Kejriwal Kamal Haasan meeting

The present political situation in Tamil Nadu is offering opportunities galore to other political parties to prove their mettle in the upcoming byelections in the state. During Amma's era, AIADMK was the uncontested winner in Tamil Nadu polls.

However, after her death and the bifurcation of the AIADMK, the scene has changed. While amateur entrants like BJP are trying to make a smooth entry with Rajinikanth as the launch pad, parties like AAP too are trying to make their debut entry into politics in this part of the country. Incidentally, their attempt is to loop in Kamal Haasan, a suitable pitch against superstar Rajinikanth, if at all he enters politics.

While the meeting between Arvind Kejriwal and Kamal Haasan is scheduled for today, it is to be seen what are its outcome. For the time being, we can only speculate the following:

Haasan joining AAP, a faint possibility

While this could be a faint possibility since AAP does not have a great presence in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, Kamal had said that his interest in politics will only be strengthened if he gets a strong launch pad (political party) with matching ideologies. 

In this light, even if AAP's views are closer to the actor's ambitions of a corruption-free government, its performance and reputation in national politics could be a big turn off. The 2014 debacle is a case in point. While AAP  won seats in Delhi, it failed to hold ground in Tamil Nadu, ending up in a bifurcation. Incidentally, it split into two rival groups led by party's state treasurer Anand Ganesh and state secretary Balakrishnan over expulsion of a few party members. This, certainly goes against the party as Haasan is most likely to look for a stable platform to launch his political career. 

[Read: Arvind Kejriwal to meet Kamal Haasan today]

Kamal ending up joining hands with AAP

On second thoughts, joining hands with AAP may also prove to be favourable for both Haasan and the party. Given the party's ambition of building a strong foothold in the state before the 2019 general elections, AAP will try its best to bring Kamal Haasan under its wings to pitch him against BJP's candidate (under speculation) Rajinikanth. 

Meanwhile, Haasan too would have the opportunity to hold an important position in the party, given the stature and image he has in the state. So, it could be a win-win situation for both the entities and the outcome of the meeting could, thus, be positive.

Kamal will end up joining Rajinikanth for a better presence

In all possibilities, Kamal would have nothing to do with AAP. And in all possibilities, he may even be looking forward to join Rajinikanth if the latter joined politics. Going by his claims on September 16, he clearly said that he would not hesitate to join Rajinikanth if he joined politics any time soon. But does that mean, he would have direct affiliations with BJP, further strengthening the party's presence in Tamil Nadu? But that again goes contrary to his claims that Saffron' is not his colour.

Uncertainty will prevail

Till now, Kamal Haasan's stance on Tamil Nadu politics is not clear. While he was happy that VK Sasikala was sacked by AIADMK as the general secretary, he was also found criticising the government for unfair practices in the state. His Twitter handle has become active ever since the bifurcation of the party. He, probably, sees a good opportunity in launching his own party or entering the politics in this situation. If that is the case, the meeting today could be just a formal one, with Kamal Haasan not standing anywhere near the fallen party. However, one can never predict Haasan's move, given his jumping interests from DMK to Rajinikanth. 

Will stick to his plan of launching his own party

He may ultimately stick to his plan of leading an independent party since he was clear about not joining any ideologies for the time being. His twitter war against the authorities and the rising corruption in the state is evident of his take on state politics. Launching an independent party will give him better decision-making powers without any influence from the higher-ups and the more experienced. 

Will take the middle road

Earlier, the actor had lambasted media for "forcefully" affiliating him with political parties after every individual meeting. I just have to be photographed with any politician and I am supposed to be joining his party. The other day, I met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and I was supposed to have developed a penchant for communism. But, becoming a part of any political party is not a simple process of hopping, skipping and jumping in. A political party is about an ideology. And I don’t think my goals in politics  can match the ideology of any party," he had said. He had also mentioned that his colour was definitely not "saffron", implying that he was not interested in the party anyways. 

Apart from that, he had clearly mentioned that he would announce his decision to join politics only after meeting more politicians and taking their inputs. So, his meeting with Kejriwal, like his meetings with DMK's Stalin or Rajinikanth or Kerala's Piranayi Vijayan, may end up nowhere and could just be a litmus test Haasan designed for deciding on his political career with any of the parties. 

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