Huge setback to Kamal Haasan as Makkal Needhi Maiam leader A Arunachalam joins BJP

Chennai: In a huge setback to Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief Kamal Haasan ahead of the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, A Arunachalam - a senior party leader - quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A Arunachalam, who was MNM's General Secretary, joined the saffron party in the presence of Union Minister Prakash Javadekar at the party's headquarters in Chennai.

 

Chennai: Makkal Needhi Maiam leader A. Arunachalam joins Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union Minister and BJP leader Prakash Javadekar pic.twitter.com/wUh7Jfr6zC — ANI (@ANI) December 25, 2020

 

The development came at a time when Kamal Haasan is intensively campaigning for the forthcoming state elections. Arunachalam hails from a village in Tuticorin district and he has been instrumental in laying groundwork in Tamil Nadu's rural areas for Makkal Needhi Maiam.

It has emerged that he was not happy with the functioning of the party by Kamal Haasan and was feeling side-lined during the actor-turned-politician's ongoing election campaign in the state.

Kamal Haasan began his party's election campaign earlier this month and it is now in its second leg. He has been a staunch critic of the BJP and ruled out any possibility of joining hands with the Kazhagam parties for the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls.

The actor-turned-politician, however, remains open to the possibility of aligning with Rajinikanth, who is scheduled to launch his own political party in January. The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief also recently released a 7-point governance plan for Tamil Nadu, highlighting that the theme of his campaign is "Seeramaipom Thamizhagathai."

MNM's 7-point governance and economic agenda includes schemes like 'Green Channel Government', 'Online Homes', 'Providing Urban Opportunities in Rural Areas' (PUORA), 'Women enrichment' among others.