Will remain in politics till am alive: Kamal Haasan

MNM drew a blank with Kamal Haasan himself losing the high-stakes battle in Coimbatore

Unfazed by his lieutenants resigning from the party blaming his style of functioning, Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) President and actor Kamal Haasan vowed to "transform" the three-year-old party and maintained that he would continue to be in politics as long as he was alive.

In a four-minute video message posted on his verified Twitter page, Kamal Haasan put the blame of leaving the party on many of the senior leaders themselves who were associated with him ever since MNM's launch in 2018. His message comes as the party battles a series of desertions with Vice-President R Mahendran, General Secretaries Santhosh Babu, C K Kumaravel, M Muruganandam, and Environment Wing Secretary Padma Priya resigning from the party's primary membership after its drubbing in the April 6 assembly elections.

MNM, which contested in about 150 seats after allotting the remaining to alliance partners, drew a blank with Kamal Haasan himself losing the high-stakes battle in Coimbatore (South) assembly constituency to BJP's Vanathi Srinivasan.

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“You will see a transformed Makkal Needhi Maiam. The path for us is very clear...I will be in politics till the time I am alive. Makkal Needhi Maiam will continue as a party as along as politics exist,” Kamal Haasan said. He suggested that the leaders quit after failing to take responsibility for the party's defeat by just levelling allegations and reading a long list of complaints.

Most leaders who quit the MNM blamed Kamal Haasan's style of functioning as the reason for their decision. The leaders had also criticised the actor-politician choosing to contest from Coimbatore (South) against their suggestions, and focussing all attention on his constituency alone by ignoring other segments.

In the video message, Kamal Haasan said analysing reasons for defeat and learning lessons were the tradition that was long followed, but none was even ready to do that in MNM. “For those who were never known to people and whose familiarity with people was not great, giving them stardom meant autocracy. For them democratic values were upheld when they were given positions based on their qualification, but now...,” he said.