Kamal Haasan not to contest Lok Sabha polls

Chennai, March 9 (IANS) Tamil Superstar Kamal Haasan and President of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

He will instead be the star campaigner for the DMK alliance, as his party (MNM) has formally joined the alliance.

Sources in DMK said that Kamal Haasan will be given a Rajya Sabha seat from the DMK alliance.

However, the DMK was keen to field Kamal Haasan from the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat but the CPI-M representing the seat was adamant that it would not leave the Coimbatore seat.

Sources said that the DMK has also asked its alliance partner, Congress, to allocate one of its seats to Kamal but Congress has asked the actor-turned-politician to contest on Congress ticket.

Sources said that as the Kamal Haasan issue has been settled, the DMK alliance will now be able to finish its seat-sharing exercise in the next few days.

Political analyst George Abraham told IANS that it is a good decision that Kamal Haasan will become the star campaigner instead of contesting the elections.

“He will be a major asset to the DMK in its poll campaigning,” Abraham said.