Kamal Haasan backs Congress bypoll nominee, one step closer to joining DMK alliance

Responding to the announcement, Elangovan said that Haasan’s backing was “ a good beginning” in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

But a significant factor that makes Haasan’s backing crucial for the Congress is the 9,000 votes the MNM had won in Erode in the Assembly elections 2021. This set of votes can help in case of a close fight.

Supporting the Congress in this bypoll is also important for MNM’s plans. It started in 2018 as an alternative to the state’s Dravidian parties DMK and AIADMK but has not managed to have a standing of its own. The latest move may affect its much-advertised independent image but may help it find a footing in the ruling coalition and boost its plans to consolidate its position.

A senior DMK leader told The Indian Express the move could be “more advantageous” for Haasan than the Congress because “his party also needs extraordinary strategies to survive after suffering significant losses in 2021 Assembly polls”.

The first sign of the emerging camaraderie between the Congress and the MNM was when Haasan walked the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi last month. While announcing his decision to walk with Rahul Gandhi on December 24, Haasan said this would reveal where his sympathies lie and the direction he takes in politics.

The move indicated that Haasan was moving away from the “independent” path towards the Congress, especially at a time the party’s key functionaries are deserting it. At the time, a senior DMK leader told The Indian Express that Haasan’s participation meant that one more party was joining their camp.

“It means one more party has joined our alliance … In the 2021 Assembly elections, MNM got 2.52 per cent of the votes, which was a little more than TTV Dhinakaran’s (AIADMK rebel leader) Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), which got 2.3 per cent,” the leader said.

The challenge for Haasan’s party to remain afloat and stay relevant in state politics forced him to make attempts to join the DMK alliance ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls. Then, Haasan tried to warm up to the DMK through the Congress, but it did not fructify as the DMK thought that the number of seats the MNM wanted to contest was “too many”. The Congress camp was also not willing to go the extra mile to get Haasan to join the alliance, because it might have forced the former to allot seats to the MNM from its own quota.

Haasan has also faced internal pressure as the MNM lost almost all of its key leaders and popular faces soon after the 2021 elections, in which its candidates lost all the seats they contested. Many leaders quit the MNM, blaming Haasan’s “self-styled leadership” for the party’s plight.