Actor-politician Kamal Haasan is set to announce his party’s plans to contest the Lok Sabha elections in two days. Amid speculation that he would join the India alliance in a dramatic shift from a desire to become an alternative to Dravidian politics in the state.
Kamal Haasan said, “In two days I will meet you with good news. Work for the Parliament elections is going well and good opportunities are expected. I will announce the decision regarding the alliance in two days.”
Earlier in September last year, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin had hinted at his party’s alliance with Hassan’s MNM ahead of the parliamentary elections.
On the other hand, no party is yet joining the BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu after AIADMK broke the alliance after its defeat in two elections.
With a negligible 2.6% vote share, the BJP is wooing smaller parties and former allies PMK and late actor Vijayakanth’s DMDK.
The PMK, which returned to the Assembly after an alliance with the AIADMK in 2021 with a vote share of four per cent, is keen to return to the AIADMK for the general elections, sources say.
DMDK wants 14 Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat.
PMK leader GK Mani said, “Which alliance we will join, when and how, we will tell you soon.”
A blow to the BJP could be that its ally Puthiya Tamilagam (a small party with influence among the Scheduled Castes) is set to defect to the AIADMK.
The party also aims to include ousted AIADMK leaders OPS, Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran, who have very few followers.
BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan said, “We welcome all political parties in Tamil Nadu.”
When asked which parties she expected to join BJP, she said, “I can’t name names because I am accepting all parties.”
In a clear indication of the BJP’s declining political fortunes in Tamil Nadu without a Dravidian ally, state chief Annamalai has refused to contest the elections.
Union Minister L Murugan also says the same. BJP party has already given him a second term in Rajya Sabha. As things stand now, it seems that for the Tamil Nadu BJP, the Lok Sabha elections can only serve to establish its vote share.
