CHENNAI: Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) has decided to skip the byelection to the Nanguneri and Vikravandi Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Kamaraj Nagar in Puducherry, scheduled for October 21 in order to completely concentrate on the 2021 Assembly elections.
Terming the October 21 bypolls as a “corrupt political drama” by the AIADMK and DMK and a “power struggle” between them, Kamal Haasan on Sunday said his party would not contest the by-elections.
“Makkal Needhi Maiam does not want to be a part of this corrupt political struggle in the name of byelections to Nanguneri and Vikaravandi. It is evident that the byelections will be nothing more than a power struggle between the ruling party (AIADMK) and the party which ruled earlier (DMK) to retain their positions and power,” Kamal’s said.
The MNM which made an electoral debut in the April Lok Sabha elections had emerged as third party in several LS seats. The actor-politician said MNM is rapidly working towards getting the support of the people of Tamil Nadu and “to form the government in 2021, thereby removing the old, redundant political parties and their corrupt counterparts to provide good governance which the people deserve.”
On Saturday, the Election Commission announced by-elections on October 21. DMK chief M. K. Stalin had announced said his party would seek re-election from Vikravandi and its ally Congress from Nanguneri, and also Kamaraj Nagar in Puducherry.
The Vikravandi seat fell vacant in June after DMK’s K. Rathamani died, while Nanguneri constituency became vacant in May this year after Congress senior H. Vasantha Kumar resigned after being elected as MP from Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency. In Puducherry, V. Vaithilingam of Congress, who represented Kamaraj Nagar, resigned after he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Union Territory.
