Tamil Nadu: After poll rout, Makkal Needhi Maiam vice-presidents and general secretaries quit

CHENNAI: Kamal Haasan’s party Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) received a major post-election jolt on Thursday as its two vice-presidents – R Mahendran and V Ponraj – quit their posts. Mahendran has also resigned from the primary membership of the party, citing un-democratic manner in which Kamal is running the party. Rebutting Mahendran’s charges, Kamal Haasan said he was a “traitor” and added that there was a clarion call from the cadres to weed out traitors. Mahendran’s name was first on the list, he said. Kamal said Mahendran was standing in the way of the growth of several hard-working cadres. “Everyone knows the doors of the party always remain open for incompetent and dishonest persons to leave. He (Mahendran) is trying to blame others for his incompetence, dishonesty, and failure to seek sympathy,” Kamal said. He said Mahendran had quit knowing well that he would be removed from the party.
“We ignore cowards, who run away on seeing failures,” he added.
Four general secretaries of the party - A G Mourya, Umadevi, C K Kumaravel and M Muruganandam – have also resigned their posts.
In an eight-page letter addressed to Kamal, Mahendran lashed out at the party’s consultant and a key advisor of the actor for the pathetic show of the party in the assembly elections. He said the consultant and advisor had misguided Kamal and despite repeated warnings, the actor did not go for course correction.
Another development was the resignation of election strategist Suresh Iyer, against whom Mahendran had levelled charges of derailing the party. Iyer heads Sankhya Consultancy, which had handled election strategies of the MNM after Prashant Kishor’s IPAC’s contract ended. Mahendran said the consultancy firm and Kamal’s advisor had sidelined many hardworking functionaries and cadres in the party. Mahendran said none of the key members of the party was consulted on any decision when the party was preparing for the assembly polls. Even on alliance formation, none of the office bearers were consulted, he said. MNM spokesperson Murali Abbas, in a statement, said the party leader would decide on the resignations.
The MNM’s vote share dipped from 3.6% in 2019 LS polls to 2.8% in the 2021 assembly polls. Kamal lost the polls to Vanathi Srinivasan of BJP in Coimbatore south and Mahendran lost in Singanallur segment.
Mahendran told TOI that he had submitted a letter to Kamal citing reasons for his exit and added that if the actor chose to act upon the issues raised in the letter, it would be good for the party. However, his decision to quit the party was final, he said.
Mahendran said the party core committee members wanted Kamal to contest from Velachery in Chennai as many senior leaders were also contesting in the city. Kamal’s presence in the city would have helped them, he said. But Kamal, going by the consultant’s opinion, chose to contest from Coimbatore south.
“Today, I’m sad to say, there is a decline in your tenacity of purpose, which lies buried under a style of operation that reeks of a non-democratic manner of running a political party,” said Mahendran and added after three years, the situation warranted him to step down from the party posting and the primary membership of the party.
In another letter to the party functionaries, Mahendran said, “Even after the massive defeat of the party and his (Kamal) own defeat (in Coimbatore South), I am not seeing any change in the leader’s approach and I am not confident that he will change,”.
It may be recalled that party founder member Kameela Nazar had resigned earlier.