After months of speculations, Kamal Haasan has finally made his political ambitions clear. In an interview with India Today, the actor said that he wants to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
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Actor @ikamalhaasan speaks to @IndiaToday on his political debut. Listen in.https://t.co/4fqxBVUizL pic.twitter.com/msOqN2s5De— India Today (@IndiaToday) September 21, 2017
“This cap (mantle of CM) is invisible. If at all I deserve it, if at all it fits, then yes, I will wear it. This cap has thorns in it, and whoever takes responsibility for it will find out eventually that it is a cap with thorns. They will take charge of empty coffers. The whole purpose of present day politics is to scrape out those coffers, which is what is angering the people,” he said.
The actor also added that he is meeting people and wants to do his groundwork before taking the plunge into politics.
Further in an interview with The Times of India, the actor said that he is ready to contest polls if the election is held in the next 100 days. On whether he will start his own party, Haasan said, “I am not going to do business with any of them. I will go alone.”
This is the actor’s clearest indication yet that he wants to enter politics. It caps off a month of meetings with high profile politicians, the latest being Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Last month, he urged supporters to get ready to ‘march to the fort’ and to keep their hands clean for the political entry.
In this meeting with Kejriwal, the two vowed to fight against corruption and communalism but there was no announcement of whether Haasan will join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or not.
“I am honoured that the Chief Minister of Delhi decided to visit my abode. This house has been political since my father’s times, and I was the one who got into it late. We got together for a purpose. The purpose is singular and it will always be that of fighting against corruption and communalism. He has a national purpose for fighting against communalism and corruption. It is no wonder that we decided to have a dialogue on the existing situation. It is more of a learning curve than whatever purpose he came to visit me for,” Haasan said during a joint press conference with Kejriwal.
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The Indian Express had earlier reported Haasan is likely to float his own political party, ahead of the local body elections that will be held in November in Tamil Nadu. The report also added that he is likely to make an announcement during Vijaya Dashami or on Gandhi Jayanthi (October 2).
In an interview to Quint, Ulaganayagan was quoted as saying, “This is the right time for me to come into active politics because everything that can possibly go wrong is going wrong. We need better governance. I am not promising swift remedies.
But I promise to start the process of change. This change may not even happen in my lifetime. Hopefully there will be others to carry forward the cleansing process.”