Opinion polls give him little chance, but Kamal remains unfazed
Unmindful of opinion polls which didn’t give a single seat in Tamil Nadu to Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Mayyam (MNM), the actor-turned-politician was all confidence when he asserted at his press conference on March 20 that the people of Tamil Nadu wanted a change from the DMK and AIADMK and had identified his party as a vehicle of change.
Kamal Haasan, fielding questions after releasing the first list of party candidates for 21 LS seats including the lone seat of Puducherry, said the people were not enamoured of the freebies announced by the DMK and AIADMK. He maintained that these and other schemes did not try to solve the real problems of the people but instead tried to provide some sops and divert their attention from real issues.
He ridiculed the poll manifestos of the two parties and chided them for repeating promises made to the people when he was a child. The remark drew widespread applause from his party representatives attending a workshop in Chennai. These parties merely made promises but were not worried about implementation, he added.
His jibe at the DMK as representing not the Rising Sun but the Rising Son, hinting at the elevation of M K Stalin, was also well received by his party colleagues. His attack on dynastic politics comes a few days after his announcement that his relatives would not occupy posts in the party.
Kamal Haasan said his was taking more time to release the list of candidates as it wanted to do the exercise in a democratic way. The second and final list of candidates including the Assembly by-elections would be released in Coimbatore on March 24. Kamal hinted at the possibility of the second list including some “prominent names”.
The first list included former IPS officer A G Maurya and Kameela Nasser, wife of actor Nasser.
Kamal Haasan said he was confident that the third front would do well in elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly by-elections in the State.
On whether he would contest the polls, Kamal Haasan said he would announce his decision on March 24.