Tamil Nadu actors may come together in politics

Chennai, Nov 3 (IANS) Three leading film stars from Tamil Nadu may be getting together to try form a new political front.

Actor Sarath Kumar, a Nadar community leader and two-time MP, said: 'A united front can rule Tamil Nadu much better than single parties.'

The other actors he hopes to team up with are Vijayakanth, who has already formed a political party called DMDK, and Karthik.

Sarath Kumar was with the DMK for a decade and then switched loyalty to the AIADMK for a brief while before the May 2006 assembly elections.

He left the AIADMK and floated his own party Aug 31 this year -- the All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi.

On Friday, Sarath Kumar said: 'I have been listening to what Vijayakanth has been saying in recent times. I hold similar views.'

He also praised actor Karthik as a Thevar community leader. Karthik was elected the leader of the All India Forward Block last year.

He also spoke about inviting Dalit leader T. Thirumavalaval, who has acted in two Tamil films, on board his front.

Vijayakanth floated the DMDK in September 2005 and fought the 2006 assembly elections, surprisingly garnering a large number of votes but just one seat.

Vijayakanth, known as Karuppu MGR, has also contested and won several civic body seats last year. Both AIADMK leader J. Jayalalitha and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi see him as a threat.

He is known to have a soft corner for the Congress Party.

Two factions of the state Congress are said to be warming up separately with Sarath Kumar and Vijaykanth though the party supports the DMK government from the outside.

Karthik is expected to be more open to joining ranks with Sarath Kumar, who claims: 'If we come together, we will be a force to reckon with.' His front, he added, 'will be truly secular'.