Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief Kamal Haasan.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief Kamal Haasan on Friday expressed his intention to contest from Coimbatore in the 2024 general elections, giving credence to speculation that his party will join the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance.
Kamal Haasan, who lost the Coimbatore (South) Assembly constituency by a narrow margin in 2021, said he would like to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the industrial city, while speaking to his partymen. “When people come to watch my movie Vikram, why won’t they come and vote for me,” Kamal was quoted as saying by his partymen.
In fact, Coimbatore was one of the very few constituencies where MNM candidates polled over 1 lakh votes in the 2019 elections. R Mahendran, who polled 1.45 lakh votes then, is now part of the DMK.
The actor-politician was talking to his party men on the preparations to be made for the Lok Sabha polls.
Kamal Haasan, who made his political debut in 2018 by projecting himself as a change agent, has been warming up to the Congress and DMK for the past few months. He took part in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and supported the Congress candidate in Erode (east) by-elections.
While MNM polled nearly 4 per cent in 2019, it came down to just 2 per cent in 2021. After the polls, Kamal Haasan suffered a series of setbacks when all his trusted lieutenants including ex-bureaucrat Santhosh Babu, R Mahendran, and C K Kumaravel, quit the party, blaming him for the defeat.
The MNM didn’t do well in the civic polls as well, and Kamal Haasan has not been seen in any major public protest since then – a berth in the DMK alliance for 2024 Lok Sabha polls might help his party gain significance once again.