South Indian superstar and now chief of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), Kamal Haasan, has expressed no qualms in joining hands with his contemporary Rajinikanth for the upcoming 2021 elections, if it benefits his state of Tamil Nadu.
Haasan spoke to news agency ANI about a potential alliance and said, “If our ideologies match and if it helps the people of Tamil Nadu, we will shed our ego(s) and co-operate”.
The actor and politician further added, “He (Rajinikanth) is the one who has to decide about the alliance. After that, we will both sit down and further discuss on it.” Both the actors have a huge cult following across the country.
Haasan on Potential Alliance With Rajinikanth
“We both have said that we need a change in Tamil Nadu. But we can’t consider one-liners. So let their (Rajinikanth’s party) ideology and policies be clear and then we’ll talk. We are just a phone call away,” he said, according to ANI.
Haasan launched his party MNM in 2018 from Madurai and has kicked off his four-day election campaign on Sunday, 13 December. He will be making his poll debut in the 2021 Assembly elections, but is yet to confirm which constituency he will be running from.
During this four-day schedule, Haasan is expected to cover Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari districts, reported Hindustan Times. MNM fought the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but registered 3.7 percent vote sharing without winning any seats.
Rajinikanth is planning to launch his party in January to most likely contest in all the 234 Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu.
Haasan On Potential Alliance With Owaisi
After a successful Assembly elections in Bihar, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is now set to contest for the April-May 2021 polls in Tamil Nadu, where his dominant voter base – Muslims form 5.86 percent of the population, according to the 2011 Census. The party also managed to secure 44 seats in the Hyderabad civic polls, giving a tough fight to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A source told News18 that Owaisi’s party is likely to contest in a minimum of 25 seats and may form an alliance with Kamal Haasan’s party.
“Owaisi is holding a discussion today (Monday) with his party office-bearers of Tamil Nadu on the Assembly elections. The discussions are happening in Hyderabad. Owaisi is planning to unite all Muslim parties and contest the elections,” said the source to News18.
Meanwhile, upon being asked about the alliance, Haasan told ANI, “They have given me the right to make decisions in our party. I will announce the decision on the alliance soon”.
The two politicians were on the same page last year when Owaisi endorsed Haasan’s statement that Nathuram Godse should be called a terrorist for shooting Mahatma Gandhi.
(With inputs from ANI, News18 and Hindustan Times)
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