LS polls: MNM holds secret parleys with DMK

CHENNAI: Secret parleys have been happening between the DMK and actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) for the ensuing Parliamentary election. If sources in the Dravidian party are to be believed, the informal negotiations have been happening between the two parties behind the screen for a Lok Sabha seat.

According to reliable sources, the ruling DMK, which heads the INDIA bloc in the state, was unwilling to allot a Lok Sabha ticket to the MNM initially. The DMK high command was understood to have offered a Rajya Sabha nomination later. Leadership of the Dravidian major was said to be content with the actor merely campaigning for the alliance as one of its star campaigners in return for a RS nomination.

However, early in the negotiation, the reluctant actor-politician was said to have insisted that they would contest one of the LS seats in the INDIA bloc. Though Coimbatore Parliamentary constituency, a sitting seat of the CPI (Marxist), apart from a seat in Coimbatore was rumoured to be in the radar of the MNM, the Dravidian major was unwilling to concede the LS ticket, and that too a Parliament seat in the state capital.

The DMK, sources disclosed, had also persuaded the actor to settle for a seat in western Tamil Nadu. The negotiation took a dramatic turn recently after the MNM communicated its change of mind and willingness to accept the RS seat offer.

“Allotting a LS ticket would eat into the tally of one of the allies. Already, we have too many allies to offer. LS ticket to MNM would make negotiations with other allies difficult. RS nomination would be an agreeable option for most. Even then, we would lose a RS nomination which would otherwise go to one of our party members. All said and done, the negotiations are still in a preliminary stage.