Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Tamil Superstar and founder president of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), Kamal Haasan is likely to contest the Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections.
Highly placed sources in the MNM told IANS that the DMK is interested in allocating the Coimbatore seat to Kamal Haasan as he had performed extremely well in the 2021 Assembly polls losing to BJP's Vanathi Sreenivasan by a slender margin of 1,728 votes.
Kamal Haasan on Sunday inaugurated a state-level reach-out campaign of the MNM, 'Makkalodu Maiam' in the Coimbatore South Assembly constituency. The MNM is planning to meet people in all the 234 Assembly constituencies of Tamil Nadu with the party leaders and cadres meeting people at the ward and panchayat level on their difficulties. This includes the issues overlooked by people's representatives in their respective constituencies.
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The MNM, according to a senior leader of the party, would chalk out its election manifesto based on the feedback from the people at the grassroots levels. The party leadership said that each ward secretary is given a list of 25 binary questions on basic amenities in their area in a Google Form. The feedback will be used to get a clearer picture of each constituency.
Sources in the MNM told IANS that the party Coimbatore district functionaries have already appealed to the Tamil superstar to contest the Coimbatore seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It may be noted that Kamal Haasan had recently gifted a car to Sharmila, a Tamil Nadu bus driver who was ousted from the job following a controversy of DMK leader Kanimozhi boarding the bus driven by her.
Sharmila entered into a verbal duel with the conductor of the bus who asked for the ticket fare from Kanimozhi. This led to the owner of the bus dismissing Sharmila. Kamal Haasan invited her to his Chennai home and handed her a new car she can drive for a living. This gesture of Kamal gifting a car to Sharmila, who is based out of Coimbatore, is also seen as a move by the Tamil superstar to garner popularity in the area. (IANS)
