Film star Vishal to enter politics, contest by-election for Jaya's seat

It's official! Actor Vishal will contest the upcoming by-election to the Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency of the Tamil Nadu state assembly as an independent candidate.

Until a couple of days ago, Vishal had been denying reports that he was to enter politics as rumours. But today, the actor, who spoke to a television channel, said he had decided to contest the upcoming RK Nagar by-election to enter the state assembly.

RK Nagar was represented in the assembly by the late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The by-election was necessitated by her death on 5 December 2016.

Vishal will file his nomination papers on Monday. Soon after his announcement, rumours began doing the rounds that director Ameer Sultan, too, will be contesting the by-election. However, there has been no confirmation on this so far.

Vishal is only the latest in a long line of stars looking to enter politics in Tamil Nadu after Jayalalithaa's death. First came reports that superstar Rajinikanth would finally announce his entry into politics after keeping observers and fans guessing for over 20 years.

Before that excitement could die down, veteran actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan made it clear that he was already in politics and would be launching his party soon.

Now, Vishal has made his intention public by announcing his decision to contest the RK Nagar election, which is slated for 21 December.

Vishal holds two powerful positions in the Tamil film industry. He is president of the Tamil Film Producers' Council and also secretary of the South Indian Artistes Association, better known as the Nadigar Sangam.