Kamal Haasan Will Contest from Coimbatore South, to Take on BJP and Congress

Actor Kamal Haasan, founder of the Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MMM) which is trying to build a third front in Tamil Nadu politics, will contest from the Coimbatore South constituency, he announced on Friday.

“I see in the battle in Coimbtatore South, a battle for the soil, language and people of Tamil Nadu. It is not me who will win this, it will be all of Tamil,” he posted on twitter.

The MNM, which has said it wants to give the Tamil voters an alternative to the two Dravidian parties, had earlier announced about 70 candidates from different constituencies in the poll-bound state.

Coimbatore south is headed for an interesting battle as it is one of the five constituencies in the state that will see a direct BJP-Congress face-off. Kamal’s entry, hence, will make this contest all the more interesting.

“I have deep connections with Coimbatore.. If Kongu lives (Coimbatore is part of what is knwon as the Kongu belt or region in tamil nadu), Tamil Nadu lives.. but Kongu region has become synonymous with corruption,” Haasan told the media while announcing his contest on Friday.

The BJP and congress are yet to announce their candidates but party sources from both sides say the likely candidates are Vanathi Srinivasan from the BJP and Mayura Jayakumar from the Congress.

While Vanathi is the National Women’s Wing President of BJP and has been a key strategist for the party in the state, she also hails from the dominant Gounder community of the region. Mayura Jayakumar, on the other hand, is a businessman who heads ‘Mayura Radios’ in Coimbatore.

Both had lost to the AIADMK candidate in the 2016 elections (when there was a pro-Jayalalithaa and pro-AIADMK wave). However, with Kamal as a new entrant, only time will tell which way the votes will swing.