The suspense over which Parliamentary constituency MNM founder Kamal Haasan will choose to contest from continues, even as a number of options, including Coimbatore, have been mooted by party sources.
Mr. Haasan met party workers in Coimbatore in September last year and expressed his wish to contest from the constituency.
While the DMK has reportedly asked the Tamil Nadu Congress to accommodate Mr. Haasan within their quota of seats and let him contest on the Congress’ ‘Hand’ symbol, MNM sources insist that Mr. Haasan would prefer to contest on the ‘Battery Torch’ symbol, as he did during the last Assembly election.
The second-rung leaders of the MNM say that they are not aware of the seat-sharing arrangement. Though it would be easy for Mr. Haasan to contest on the ‘Hand’ symbol and win, it would not benefit MNM in any way, party insiders said, adding that he was unlikely to take that route. Political analysts, however, pointed out that it might be easier for the MNM leader to contest on the ‘Hand’ symbol instead of the ‘Torch’ symbol, particularly to appeal to the people in rural areas across a large Parliamentary constituency.
