The Arunthathiar Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday petitioned the Coimbatore District Collector not to permit Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder Kamal Haasan to campaign for the party's candidate in the Sulur Assembly constituency for the upcoming byelection, accusing the actor-turned-politician of ignoring the sentiments of the community.
The petition submitted by the organisation's president Kovai Maniarasu said that Mr. Haasan failed to condole the death of MNM worker, Balamurugan from Panappalayam in Tiruppur, a member of the Aruthathiar community, who died under “mysterious circumstances”.
According to the petitioner, Balamurugan was a booth committee member of the party for Palladam, for the Lok Sabha election that was held on April 18.
An MNM functionary named Sivakumar had given him the duty.
The petitioner said that Balamurugan did not return after the election work on April 18 and was found dead on the floor of MNM's office the next day. Palladam police registered a case of unnatural death and investigations were on.
Mr. Maniarasu alleged that the party leader did not condole the death of the worker though there were news reports related to the incident. He alleged that Mr. Haasan did not enquire about the death of the party worker as he was from the Arunthathiar community.
He wanted the Collector to prevent Mr. Haasan from campaiging on Friday in the Sulur Assembly constituency, which has parts of Tiruppur.