MNM general secretary quits party

Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) general secretary Muruganandham on Wednesday resigned from the party post and the primary membership along with his supporters, in protest against what he called the ‘autocra

Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) general secretary Muruganandham on Wednesday resigned from the party post and the primary membership along with his supporters, in protest against what he called the ‘autocratic’ style of functioning of its founder Kamal Hassan. Listing out the reasons for resigning from the party, Mr. Muruganandham, who unsuccessfully contested the recent Assembly election from Thiruverumbur constituency in Tiruchi district, alleged to reporters here that there was ‘absolutely no inner-party democracy’ in the MNM. It was purely being run as per the ‘whims and fancies’ of Mr. Kamal Hassan, he claimed. Ignoring the opinions and views of the party functionaries, Mr.Hassan had made several autocratic decisions that ultimately led to the party's debacle in the Assembly elections, he felt. According to him, Mr. Hassan failed to analyse the strength of the alliance parties before entering into pre-poll alliance. Rather than fielding the candidates of MNM, he allotted about 100 seats to the alliance parties that had no solid following among the people. When the issue was raised in the executive committee meeting held to discuss the party’s poor performance, Mr. Hassan refused to answer the questions and passed the buck on to functionaries, Mr. Muruganandham claimed.