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Journalism of Courage
Congress leader Karti Chidambaram on Friday dubbed Kamal Haasan a “super-NOTA” and said the actor-turned-politician’s Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) will not win a single seat in the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls as it is “not a sustainable political party”.
The Congress MP from Sivaganga also slammed the AIADMK-BJP alliance and said the people of Tamil Nadu do not want a government which has any “stain, scent or shadow” of the BJP as its “Hindi-Hindutva agenda irritates them”.
In an interview with PTI, Karti Chidambaram also claimed that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Congress alliance will win over 200 of the 234 Assembly seats in the single-phase April 6 polls.
“People do not want a government which will not respect Tamil sentiments, language and heritage. They do not want a government which has any stain, scent or shadow of the BJP,” Karti Chidambaram said.
The Congress leader also claimed that despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visits to poll-bound state and several top BJP leaders’ aggressive campaigning, the BJP’s “zero MLAs, zero MPs” status will remain.
“The Prime Minister can make as many trips as he wants to Tamil Nadu, but the BJP’s Hindi-Hindutva policies will be roundly rejected by the people,” he said.
Asked if Haasan and his outfit MNM will impact the polls, Karti Chidambaram said, “He (Haasan) is only a super-NOTA. He will not win a single seat as his is not a sustainable political party. They will only congregate for the elections and will disperse after it.”
On the key issues in the Tamil Nadu polls, Karti Chidambaram said the most important thing is the ten years of “non-performance” of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
“The livelihood of the average person has not improved in Tamil Nadu. Then, there is the rampant misgovernance and corruption by the AIADMK. It has favoured a few in giving out public contracts, there has been a huge siphoning of resources as well as poor quality of work by the public works department,” the 49-year-old leader said.
During the Covid times, the AIADMK did not provide direct cash transfer to the people and only gave Rs 1,000 for ration cards which was “woefully inadequate” for the lockdown period, he said.
Asked if the reported differences within AIADMK were to benefit the Congress and the DMK, Chidambaram said even if the party is united, people will not support the AIADMK which became “abundantly” clear during the parliamentary elections.
“Even if you add the votes of (TTV) Dhinakaran (the leader of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam), the AIADMK would have lost,” he asserted.
Karti Chidambaram also expressed confidence that the DMK-led alliance will “win handsomely” and repeat the performance of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when the UPA won 38 out of the 39 parliamentary seats.
