MNM general secretary quits party

Party being run as per the whims and fancies of Kamal, says Muruganandham

Makkal Needhi Maiam 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 Haasan. Listing out the reasons for resigning from the party, Mr. Muruganandham, who unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election from Thiruverumbur constituency in Tiruchi district, told reporters that there was ‘absolutely no inner-party democracy” in the MNM. It was purely being run as per the “whims and fancies” of Mr. Haasan, he claimed. Ignoring the views of the party functionaries, Mr.Haasan had made several decisions that ultimately led to the party’s debacle in the election, he felt. According to him, Mr. Haasan failed to analyse the strength of the alliance parties. 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.Haasan refused to answer the questions and passed the buck to the functionaries, Mr. Muruganandham said.