LS polls: Kamal Haasan likely to tour TN in July end or August

CHENNAI: Amid the leadership crisis in the AIADMK, actor and MNM founder Kamal Haasan is set to launch a state-wide tour to prepare the party for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by the end of this month or August.

In the resolution adopted at the party’s state executive committee meeting chaired by Haasan on Sunday, MNM said that the party office bearers should take steps to fill up all the posts from the state level to the booth level to ensure the party wins a considerable number of seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Siva Elango, state secretary (Organisation), MNM said that Haasan’s tour itinerary is yet to be finalised and he is likely to tour by end of this month or in August. “Party chief’s tour is to prepare the party for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. We are focusing on the party’s growth at the grassroots level and wanted to identify candidates for the Lok Sabha seats to launch an early campaign,” he said.

Elango said that the upcoming party like MNM would not be able to compete with the DMK and the AIADMK in terms of their money power during the poll campaign. “But we could bank on the people’s anger against the ruling DMK and the opposition AIADMK. DMK which promised to end corruption is refusing to act on the corrupt former ministers of AIADMK. It failed to fulfil poll promises like the restoration of the old pension scheme for the government employees and Rs 1000 assistance for women family heads,” he said, adding that the ongoing leadership tussle in the AIADMK camp has given an opportunity for the MNM to bank on it.

Meanwhile, another resolution welcomed the government’s notification on the area sabha which remained inactive for the past 26 years after the MNM chief continuously raked up the local bodies' rights. The party, another resolution, urged the government to implement its promise to provide financial assistance to women. Haasan originally mooted the promise, but other parties copied it, it said.