PTI

Chennai, Mar 11: Former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao offered to make superstar Rajinikanth the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu if he contested as a Congress candidate in the 1996 assembly elections, according to the recently-released biography of the actor.

Rajininkanth, who was at loggerheads with the then Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa and openly criticised her government triggering speculations about his entry into politics, received a phone call from Rao in 1995.

Thanking the actor for his support to the Congress, the late prime minister indicated that his party would not be averse to making him the Chief Minister of the state, according to the book "the name is Rajinikanth," written by a city-based ophthalmologist Dr Gayathri Sreekanth.

The Congress was an ally of the AIADMK then. When Rajinikanth sought time to think it over, Rao suggested a meeting between the two during his visit to Chennai. The meeting eventually took place at Congress headquarters 'Satyamurthy Bhavan', where the actor politely turned down the offer, the book said.

Instead, Rajinikanth recommended senior Congress leader G K Moopanar for the Chief Minister's chair, saying he would be a perfect candidate.

"In the event of Congress forming a coalition government, I humbly request you to please consider joining with people who will do good for the state. I want Congress to be an ally of the DMK. I think it's time we give the DMK a chance," the book quoted him as saying. Rao felt that the Congress could get a thumping victory if Rajinikanth contested the elections directly as the party's chief ministerial candidate, the book said.

With the actor having clearly spoken his mind, the prime minister was non-committal and merely sought time to consider his view.

"Rajinikanth understood it all too well. He knew the prime minister had made up his mind to join hands with Jayalalithaa. He bade goodbye to Rao and instinctively knew that the partnership between the Congress and the DMK was an impossibility," it added.

Rao's decision to align with the AIADMK resulted in a vertical split in the state Congress with Moopanar and his followers rebelling against the leadership and forming the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC).

The strong anti-incumbency wave against the Jayalalithaa government saw the DMK-TMC combine sweeping the 1996 polls with the AIADMK chief herself suffering a defeat.

Recalling the kidnapping of Kannada superstar Rajkumar by forest brigand Veerappan in 2000, the book said Rajinikanth volunteered to go as an emissary to secure the release of the veteran actor.

"Rajinikanth adored Raj Kumar. He had grown up watching annaavaru's (Raj Kumar) films. The superstar felt he had to do something (to secure his release). He was convinced that the bandit could be brought around through dialogue," the biography said.

However, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and his Karnataka counterpart S M Krishna declined the offer, it said.