Versatile actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) president Kamal Haasan will make his Parliament debut on July 25 when he along with five others will take oath as members of the Upper House of Parliament.
Besides the actor, three from the DMK – P Wilson, the DMK’s legal eagle who has been re-nominated; S R Sivalingam, party strongman from Salem; and poet Rokkaiah Malik alias Salma; and two from the AIADMK – I S Inbadurai, a practicing advocate; and M Dhanapal, a party loyalist and advocate from the Dalit community, will also take oath. All the six were elected unopposed.
An MNM media release said Hassan will take oath on July 25, when the term of the outgoing members from Tamil Nadu expires on July 25.
Apart from MDMK Chief Vaiko, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) president Anbumani Ramadoss, a former Union Minister in the then UPA government, are among the outgoing members. Anbumani was elected last time with the support of the AIADMK.He was elected in the biennial election in June with the support of the ruling DMK and its allies. Though the seat was allocated to the MNM, Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin had insisted that he should go to parliament so that his voice for Tamil and Tamil Nadu should be heard in that august house.
The Rajya Saba seat for the MNM was in return for the party’s support for the DMK-led alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in which Haasan campaigned extensively as a star campaigner. The MNM opting out of the contest and extending support to the DMK combine was to consolidate secular forces, a need of the hour, Haasan had explained then.
Despite a case pending against AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) signing in the nomination papers of the party candidates, the EC had accepted their papers and dismissed the plea to reject them from an expelled member, Va Pugalendhi.