Actor-politician Kamal Haasan undertook a 170-km political tour from Rameswaram to Madurai in February 2018. the rationale - he had to announce the name of his party, Makkal Needhi Maiam, which suggests "People's Justice Centre".
The 66-year-old actor took his entry into politics rather slow. He had waited for months after announcing his political ambition and held many consultations before the launch in February 2018, one year before the Lok Sabha election during which his party took part in its first political fight.
Though Mr Haasan's party didn't win any seat in Tamil Nadu within the national election, its performance then in terms of vote share was seen together that would become a threat to the AIADMK and therefore the DMK in future, which is now.
The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) got 3.72 per cent votes within the 35 constituencies it contested within the 2019 election , which was no mean feat for a celebration that was launched just over a year before the national election.
Mr Haasan had been looking to figure with superstar Rajinikanth too. The plan didn't compute after Rajinikanth decided to not take the plunge into active politics.
Mr Haasan is contesting the Tamil Nadu election from Coimbatore South constituency. The constituency is represented by AIADMK's Amman K Arjunanan within the outgoing assembly and therefore the ruling party MLA has shifted to Coimbatore North to accommodate alliance partner BJP's Vanathi Srinivasan.
Mr Haasan's party on its website says looking back at his films, there's an undercurrent of social responsibility, way before he became an official . "Apart from reflecting his social responsibility, he also ventured into finding viable solutions to the problems that bogged the society," the MNM says.
Mr Haasan's political venture was one half a mega cinema-politics crossover story that gripped Tamil Nadu. the opposite was superstar Rajinikanth's entry, which appeared set in December last year, just for the actor to cite a "warning from God" and back out over health concerns.
The Tamil Nadu election - the primary since the deaths of former Chief Ministers J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi - are going to be held during a single phase tomorrow. Votes are going to be counted May 2.
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