Rajinikanth's full speech at Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam during his political announcement is here.

"I will be beginning my own party and will be contesting in the upcoming State elections. We will independently stand in all the 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu. Before the state election, we will discuss what we can do, and what we cannot do. If we don't do what we promise, we will resign within three years. We will be running spiritual politics. In the past one year, Tamil Nadu politics has come down to a miserable state. People from the other states are frowning upon us. Even after all this, If I am going to stay quiet, my conscience will prick me to the day I die. This is the state and you are the people who are the reason I am living today.

Don't assume that I am standing because I want the position. If I wanted this political chair, I could have had it in 1996. The position came to me, but I didn't want it that time. If I didn't want it at 45 years of age, do you think I will be craving for it at 68? If I did, there wouldn't be a bigger idiot than me."