The Mystery About Arjuna Murthy - Here’s What We Know About Rajinikanth’s New ‘Chief Coordinator’

Tamil actor Rajinikanth created a flutter earlier this week when he finally announced that he would launch a new political party and that the party would contest in the upcoming Tamil Nadu legislative assembly polls. While this was expected what raised more interest was the appointment of a relatively unknown figure - one Arjuna Murthy as chief coordinator of the new party.

Dressed in a white kurta with grey hair, the person wasn't completely unknown. He was, until he resigned this week, a part of the Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) intellectual cell president. A party note had stated that he was "relieved from all his duties".

As per media reports, Arjuna Murthy was associated with the late Murasoli Maran, an important leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and relative of its late president Karunanidhi. After Maran's demise Murthy is said to have become more closely involved with the Tamil Nadu BJP.

Maran's son Dayanidhi Maran has however already denied any links between Murthy and his late father.

Hailing from Dindigul region, Murthy is reportedly close to S Gurumurthy, who is closely associated with the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) and the ruling BJP dispensation. While there have been no official statements or acknowledgements, rumour and reportage in Tamil media has always said that Gurumurthy is the man behind Rajinikanth's political moves.

Speaking about Murthy's involvement with his daughter's technology start-up in near field communications (NFC), the Times Of India cites a close associate of him as saying, "He is good at grasping things and can visualise futuristic stuff. Sometimes they can work and sometimes they don't. For example, he was ahead of his times at NFC. As a technology, it is yet to gain mass acceptance."

"He has a knack to get the branding right. Political infrastructure is a different cup of tea and the scale in a large state like Tamil Nadu will be a mountain to climb for him."

As a part of BJP, Murthy was said to be closely associated and involved with the state unit chief L Murugan's much talked about Vel Yatra. As head of the intellectual cell, Murthy appears to have coordinated online meetings and virtual rallies for the party with important business communities in Tamil Nadu, The Week says.

Reports also cite BJP leaders as saying that the party and Murthy's associates in the party were not informed of his plan to switch parties.