The fight for the urban seat of Coimbatore (South) got interesting on Friday with Makkal Needhi Maiam President actor Kamal Haasan deciding to fight from the constituency in the industrial city. Kamal Haasan, who projects himself as an alternative to the Dravidian majors, will, however, face candidates from the Congress and the BJP, not the DMK and the AIADMK.
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Coimbatore (South) has been allotted to the Congress in the DMK alliance, and to the BJP in the AIADMK alliance. Both the parties are yet to announce their candidates.
Kamal Haasan's decision to choose a seat in Coimbatore stems from the fact that his party nominee, R Mahendran, had polled over 1.4 lakh votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In this Assembly constituency, Mahendran had secured over 16 per cent of the votes polled.
“Coimbatore is very close to my heart. There is a proverb which says if Kongu (western Tamil Nadu) flourishes, the rest of the state would follow suit. Unfortunately, Kongu has become a corrupt capital now. I want to change that,” said Kamal Haasan, announcing his candidature.