Former MNM vice-president R Mahendran joins DMK

Mahendran, meanwhile, said he would be proud to serve a party that follows the path of Dravidian ideologue Periyar and former Tamil Nadu chief ministers CN Annadurai and Kalaignar Karunanidhi.

He said as many as 11,000 people will become members of DMK. “It’s good that a few hurdles came in my political journey, only because of that I was able to come out of a party and join this party,” Mahendran said.

Mahendran, who hails from Pollachi, is a medical practitioner and a pioneer in vanilla cultivation. He unsuccessfully contested in 2019 Lok Sabha election from Coimbatore and 2021 assembly polls from Singanallur. He quit the MNM in May this year citing lack of democracy in the Haasan-led organisation. He blamed a few advisors for ruining the party’s chances in the polls and said Haasan leads the party in an autocratic manner and that there was no hope for any change in his attitude or approach.

Interestingly, Kamal issued a statement in response to Mahendran’s charges, saying the latter was covering up for his dishonesty and lack of political acumen. Soon after Mahendran left the party, many top party functionaries, including former IAS officer Santhosh Babu, businessman CK Kumaravel, had quit MNM.

Later, in a video, Haasan said a few people were given bigger positions in the party even when they were new and at that time the decisions felt too democratic for them. ”The transparency I showed in forming an alliance and the democracy I showed in providing them the responsibilities is well known to everyone, claiming responsibility for the defeat is an act of good democrat,” he said.

Further, Haasan said people who decided to travel with him to create new political cultures should not worry about others. Haasan said that everyone will see a mutated version of MNM soon.