Actor Kamal Haasan, who confirmed recently that he is considering a political career, will meet Arvind Kejriwal for lunch today. The Delhi Chief Minister is flying down to Chennai just two days after his return to Delhi following a meditation break in Maharashtra.
The two will have closed-door “political discussions” at the actor’s office in Chennai, say sources in Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Kamal Haasan had last met the AAP chief in 2015 to discuss a film shoot in Delhi.
Mr Kejriwal will travel to Chennai with four other AAP leaders and return this evening. “The current state of national politics will be discussed,” a source close to the Chief Minister said, adding that the two have been in touch over the past two years and share a “mutual respect”.
This is the second Chief Minister that the 67-year-old actor is meeting after Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan. At a meet organized by The Hindu Tamil last week, the actor had said: “Yes I met Pinarayi and I may meet a few other Chief Ministers. This is political tourism.”
Kamal Haasan, currently the host of the Tamil version of Bigg Boss, has made it increasingly clear in recent months that his political plunge is on the cards, unlike the more ambiguous will-he-won’t-he statements of the other superstar, Rajinikanth.
He has often posted acerbic tweets commenting on the internal churning and power struggle in Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK. He also attended a grand event organised by the opposition DMK last month.
After meeting with the Kerala Chief Minister, the actor congratulated the Left-led government in Kerala for “good governance”.
AAP leaders have refused to comment on speculation that Kamal Haasan’s meeting with Mr Kejriwal indicates a starry acquisition for the party in the south.
“There is a political void in Tamil Nadu’s Game of Thrones,” commented an AAP leader.
To a question on his political plunge, Kamal Haasan last week told The Quint: “Yes, I am thinking on those lines, not out of choice but compulsion. Which existent political party can provide me with a platform or an ideology that will match my reformatory goals in politics?”
The fact that the meeting is significant, said an AAP leader, is evident from the Chief Minister’s one-day flying visit to Chennai just on the back of a nine-day Vipassana camp.
