Tamil Nadu: Will remain in politics as long as I live, says Kamal Haasan

CHENNAI: Stating that to study defeats in order to emerge victorious has been the path of history, actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam president Kamal Haasan on Monday said he will be in politics as long as he is alive.
Kamal also said the MNM (which failed to win a single seat in the Tamil Nadu assembly election) will be there as long as politics is there. “A revamped MNM will soon be revealed,” he added, scorching rumours about the future of his party.
The party has seen a series of exits by senior leaders in the past few weeks. Barring a hard hitting statement signed by him, when party’s senior leader and vice president R Mahendran quit the party a couple of weeks ago, the MNM party president had maintained a stoic silence even as a few other leaders including general secretaries Santosh Babu, M Muruganantham and C K Kumaravel, and state secretary (environment wing) Padma Priya left the party one after another. Another general secretary Kameela Nassar had quit much before Mahendran resigned.
“When I brought unknown faces into the party and gave them prominent positions, it was seen as a democratic act. When these leaders are accosted to own up responsibility (for party defeat in the election), I become autocratic,” Kamal said in a video message, countering the charges against him of being autocratic and about the lack of democracy in the functioning of the party.
“Nomads and travellers will keep moving. And traders will stay only as long as there is opportunity. MNM’s resource pool is not limited. It is result of 40 years of hard work by people. Some of them, who left now, may even want to return later. But they should never be permitted to pollute the source ever again,” Kamal said.
“Some people have thrown charges at us just to hide their own faults and shortcomings. Some people had bent the party’s infrastructure to suit their own individual needs. There is no need to hit back at them, and we need to retain our decorum,” he told the party cadre. He appealed to them to restrain from indulging in using foul language and lowering the decorum of the party.