Kamal’s MNM to campaign for INDIA bloc; signs pact with DMK for RS nomination in 2025
Clarifying that the arrangement was not being done for a post, Kamal said, "This is for the country. Hence, I shook hands where I must."
MNM Chief Kamal Haasan
CHENNAI: After weeks of informal negotiations, the DMK and actor Kamal Haasan's Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) on Saturday formally signed the poll pact for the ensuing Parliamentary polls. The DMK has formally assured a Rajya Sabha nomination to MNM in exchange for the latter's campaign in support of the INDIA bloc in all 40 constituencies, including Puducherry in the ensuing Parliamentary polls.
As per the formal poll pact signed by Chief Minister MK Stalin and Kamal Haasan at Anna Arivalayam Saturday afternoon, it has been decided that MNM will campaign in the Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the ensuing Parliamentary polls 2024. It has also been decided to allocate a Rajya Sabha seat to MNM in the biennial elections to be held for the Rajya Sabha in 2025.
Briefing media persons in the company of state sports minister Udhayanidhi Stalin at Arivalayam, Kamal said, "I will not contest in the ensuing election. Neither will my party do. However, we will extend all our cooperation to the alliance." Clarifying that the arrangement was not being done for a post, Kamal said, "This is for the country. Hence, I shook hands where I must."
With the DMK successfully persuading the MNM to accept its one RS seat offer and preserving a Lok Sabha seat, decks have been cleared for the DMK to finalise the numbers and constituencies with its other allies of the DMK. The delay in sealing the deal with MNK was holding back the finalisation of the two constituencies of the CPM, mainly its sitting seat Coimbatore, which was stated to have been saved for Kamal in the event of his securing a LS ticket from the DMK.
Also, the RS nomination has put to bed speculation about the Congress being obligated to allot one of its seats to the MNM, a wild idea the grand old party has been spurning from the beginning. The pact has also offered elbow room to the DMK to concede an extra seat to the Congress which has been adamant not to settle for anything less than the previous tally of 10 Lok Sabha seats.
Politically, the agreement with MNM has brought an additional party, though small in comparison with Nitish Kumar's JD (U) and Jayant Chaudhary's RLD which defected to the BJP led NDA, into the INDIA fold. The arrangement with the DMK led INDIA bloc has also blunted the "alternative politics" rhetoric loudly raised by Kamal when he took the political plunge much the same way Vijayakanth did while floating the DMDK.
