Kamal Haasan led Makkal Needhi Maiam party has decided to merge with Indian National Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. In a statement issued today on its website, Makkal Needhi Maiam said that not just Kamal Haasan, but all the members of the party are with Rahul Gandhi “in his attempts to save India, the South Asian Union of States”.
Therefore, they have decided to merge with Congress, the party said. The merger will officially take place on 30 January.
“On 30th January – we will bring Bapu back from the dead to fight Hindutva. That is the message,” the party said in its statement. The Kamal Haasan’s party added that they hope that “other parties will follow Makkal Needhi Maiam and merge themselves with Indian National Congress so that the party becomes strong and big enough to defeat Bhartiya Janata Party.”
“If different ideologies could come together to form Janata Party to defeat Indira Gandhi, there is no reason why parties of almost similar ideologies can’t merge together to defeat Bhartiya Janata Party,” the statement quoted Rahul Gandhi as saying.
“Ever since Rahul Gandhi said that he had killed Rahul Gandhi, I wanted to do something similar. Today Makkal Needhi Maiam has killed Makkal Needhi Maiam, and we are all Congress,” Kamal Haasan said, according to the statement issued by Makkal Needhi Maiam.
It is notable that Makkal Needhi Maiam has already announced support for Congress candidate E.V.K.S. Elangovan from the DMK-led alliance in upcoming Erode bypolls in Tamil Nadu. Last month, Kamal Haasan had joined Rahul Gandhi in his Bharat Jodo Yatra in New Delhi.
Update: Later in the day, the statement was removed from the website of Makkal Needhi Maiam. The party issued a statement on Twitter claiming that its website was hacked, and it didn’t announce any merger with Congress. The website was also taken down for maintenance.
In the tweet on Friday evening, the party said that they are not afraid of despicable deeds of those who are accustomed to suppressing the democratic forces, and they will give a befitting reply.
