Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan on Wednesday said his party, the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), was ready to contest byelections to 20 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu. Talking to reporters on his 64th birthday in Chennai, Haasan said his party had already filled 80 per cent of posts at the field level in all these 20 seats.
Bypolls were necessitated after the Madras High Court upheld the assembly speaker's decision to disqualify 18 AIADMK MLAs under the anti-defection law. Besides these 18 seats, bypolls would also be held in Tiruvarur and Thiruparankundram, both of which fell vacant after the death of former chief minister M. Karunanidhi and AIADMK MLA A. K. Bose.
“Nobody knows when or whether the bypolls would be held. But we are ready to contest the polls as and when they are held,” Haasan said.
Haasan, often critical of the ruling AIADMK on issues like corruption, said: “If corruption is removed, measures taken through every government department will flourish.” The actor said he was a tool of the people and not that of any political party.
In his birthday message to fans and party workers on Sunday, Haasan had said that his party's approach to politics was 'devoid' of nepotism and "unnecessary individual praise that is generally associated with politics."
He had said that the existing political parties and politicians viewed people's welfare as alms that are given to the begging people.
"A state that is free of corruption, excelling in education, praiseworthy in agriculture, respecting women and ripe for development will be born soon," he had said.
