Actor turned politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) party is likely to join the Secular Progressive Alliance led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in tamil Nadu for the upcoming 2024 lok sabha election and will be part of the I.N.D.I.A bloc for the 2024 general elections, according to sources. In this regard, Haasan is likely to meet chief minister MK stalin after the Budget session, sources told CNN News18. The tamil superstar, who is also President of MNM, will also contest the parliamentary polls either from coimbatore south or chennai, they said.
Coimbatore seat is currently represented by CPI-M, while chennai North, South and Central seats were represented by Dr Kalanidhi Veeraswamy, Dr thamizhachi thangapandian and dayanidhi maran respectively. All three are from the DMK. MNM has recently been sanctioned with the symbol of a battery torch. The speculations about MNM joining the DMK-Congress alliance have been rife for some time. Haasan’s party, for the first time since its formation in 2018, endorsed another party in an electoral contest in february 2023. MNM openly supported DMK-Congress alliance candidate E.V.K.S Elangovan who is grandson of social reformer Periyar in the Erode east by-election.
But that was not the first time when the MNM founder has shown support to the Secular Progressive Alliance in tamil Nadu. Haasan also walked alongside congress leader rahul gandhi during the first phase of his Bharat Jodo yatra in New delhi last year. A few days later in february 2023, Haasan at an event was asked about his possible alliance with the DMK. To this, he reportedly addressed stalin as a friend and said, “Can’t say about the alliance now, we have to move scene by scene and not go to climax now. Scene by scene should carry the story.”