DMK allots one Rajya Sabha seat to Kamal Haasan’s MNM

MNM founder Kamal Haasan said he would not contest in the Lok Sabha polls 2024.
| Photo Credit: Johan Sathyadas

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Saturday, March 9, 2024, held alliance talks with Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), and allocated one Rajya Sabha seat to it.

As per a pact between the two parties, the MNM will work for the DMK-led alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

An agreement was signed between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin and MNM founder Kamal Haasan, to this effect, on Saturday. 

MNM had contested alone in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 State Assembly elections, and now, is in an alliance for the first time since its formation.

Speaking to reporters after signing the pact at the DMK’s headquarters in Chennai, Mr. Haasan said he would not contest in the Lok Sabha polls and MNM has decided to work for the DMK-led alliance.

With this, the DMK has now allocated two seats each to the two Left parties, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist); one seat to the MDMK; the two reserved constituencies of Villupuram and Chidambaram to the VCK; the Ramanathapuram constituency to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Namakkal constituency to the Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK).

Sources in the Congress said the DMK had guaranteed it 10 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. A formal announcement to this effect is likely to be made on Saturday evening.