In recent weeks, there has been a lot of speculation as to what actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan and his party, Makkal Needhi Maiam, would do for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections?
The political corridors are abuzz with questions like whether his party would contest the elections alone or would form an alliance with any party. On January 23, these questions were somewhat answered post Kamal Haasan’s meeting with his senior Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) members at the Chennai Alwarpet office.
At the party meeting, Haasan has told the party members that he is actively looking for potential political alliances that their party could form ahead of the elections. He has asked the MNM members to start work at the grassroot level for the impending elections and focus their energies on that.
He further added that even if they form an alliance, there will be an MNM representative at all the polling booths. MNM cadres who have been appointed for tasks and have not delivered will also be replaced.
Kamal Haasan , who will be contesting in the elections, has also reportedly put in place two stipulations – he has stated that the welfare of the Tamil people and the development of the state should not be compromised in any manner because of their political alliance. Secondly, he has reiterated the political party they form an alliance with should be line with MNM’s core principles and their goals. Thus, the ‘Indian 2’ star is seeking an alliance with a political party that doesn’t compromise on these two key aspects. In case, the MNM leader is not able to find a suitable alliance, the party could go it alone in the Lok Sabha polls is the news.
The Makkal Needhi Maiam managed to secure 3.72% of votes in the 40 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In cities like Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai, the party secured between 8.5% to 12.5% of the voteshare. They came third in many urban areas but all their candidates lost the deposit.
Given that Kamal Haasan had joined Rahul Gandhi on his Bharat Jodo Yatra in December 2022, there have always been whispers that he could be looking to tie-up with the Congress for Lok Sabha polls.
But since Congress has had a long-standing and successful alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, one needs to wait and watch what strategy Kamal Haasan adopts for MNM and Lok Sabha 2024.