Chennai: Actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Tuesday reiterated that he and co-star Rajinikanth could join hands for the 2021 Assembly elections “for the welfare of Tamil Nadu.”
Haasan, who has hit the campaign trail early, to take his Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) closer to the electorate, said he and Rajinikanth were just a phone call away. “Both of us want to change everything in Tamil Nadu. If our policies are mutually acceptable, without any ego, we will join hands for the welfare of Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Rajinikanth had recently said that he would on December 31 announce the date of launch of his proposed political party. The launch is intended for January 2021.
Incidentally, this is the second time Haasan has offered to work together with Rajinikanth with whom he acted in 13 films during the latter half of the 1970s. Over a year ago, he had said he and Rajinikanth should come together. Rajinikanth had hinted that such “miracles” could happen.
A key factor why Kamal Haasan has been harping on joining hands with the superstar for electoral politics, is that during the last Lok Sabha polls his party managed to poll only under 4% of the vote share, though its candidates performed better in urban constituencies.
“He has perhaps realised that he may not be able to achieve much in the Assembly elections if he goes it alone. Also when two popular actors enter the fray the neutral votes they would attract would get split,” explained a political observer.
Meanwhile, the MNM suffered a setback as the Election Commission of India has allotted the ‘Battery Torch’ symbol on which it contested in 2019, to another registered party. Kamal Haasan said the ECI was expected to act as per law, nonetheless, “if we do not get the ‘torch light’ we will get the ‘light house”.
In a related development, the Rajini Makkal Mandram, Rajinikanth’s pre-political platform, urged its supporters not to believe media reports about the name and symbol of the actor’s proposed party. Some reports claimed that the actor could use a party Makkal Sevai Katchi (People’s Service Party) and contest on the ‘auto rickshaw’ symbol. The Mandram asked supporters to wait for the official communication from Rajinikanth.
