Kamal Haasan to contest in 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, will announce constituency later

Actor-politician and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) President Kamal Haasan on Monday announced that he would contest the elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly that's due in the first half of 2021. However, the actor refused to part with information on the constituency from where he would test the electoral waters.

The announcement by Kamal Haasan is significant since he did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in which the MNM scored over 3.5 per cent votes in its debut polls. The actor, who launched MNM in 2018, projects his party as an alternative to the Dravidian majors DMK and AIADMK that have ruled the state alternatively since 1967.

Read: Tamil Nadu polls: Kamal Haasan launches campaign; does not rule out striking deal with Rajinikanth

“I will definitely contest the (assembly) elections. It will not be right to name the constituency now,” Kamal Haasan said in Usilampatti as he continued his campaign in Southern Tamil Nadu for the second straight day. Kamal Haasan is the Chief Ministerial candidate of the MNM, which is trying to stitch an alliance to face the polls.

The actor reiterated that “honesty” was his only promise to the people to get his party elected to power.

The actor also asked people to vote out the two major parties and pave the way for youngsters to administer Tamil Nadu. He also took a dig at deputy chief minister and AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam for his comments that five-year rule should be equally split between a man and a woman as Chief Minister.

“Those who advocate such an idea should remember that their party does not have a single woman as district secretary. If MNM comes to power, the government will have at least 20 women in the cabinet,” Kamal Haasan said.

He also asked people to get ready to embrace “political change” while promising to deliver governance at the doorsteps of the people.