On January 27, Makkal Needhi Maiam announced that its website had been hacked by miscreants, who posted a statement claiming a merger of Kamal Haasan's party with Congress. The statement posted by the hackers, which has since been removed, said that the parties would merge on January 30, marking the day on which Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead by Hindutva ideologue Nathuram Godse in New Delhi in 1948. The hacking of the website comes days after his party decided to back DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance candidate and senior Congress leader EVKS Elangovan in the Erode East Assembly by-poll