Kamal Haasan would enter the electoral fray in the forthcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu as Makkal Needhi Maiam’s chief ministerial candidate. And his party would seek the support of actor Rajinikanth, Haasan told reporters in Chennai on Thursday. The actor-turned-politician has planned campaigns in Trichy and Madurai districts on November 26 and 27 respectively and will be travelling to Coimbatore and Salem districts on December 12 and 13.

Kamal Haasan, who began his party advancing a centrist, clean and corruption-free politics, garnered an about 3.7% vote share in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019.

Making periodic political statements since the politically turbulent times of early 2017, the 65-year-old has been carving a steady path for himself, even as his celluloid contemporary Rajinikanth proved to be in serious doubt about his own prospects as a politician.

Haasan’s arrival as a true-blue electoral politician ahead of the 2021 assembly polls marks the first serious contender from the celluloid world in Tamil Nadu politics since the time of Vijayakanth’s entry ahead of the 2006 edition of the elections.

Haasan said his party would enter into alliances but refused to qualify it as a ‘third front’. The cinema legend, who also anchors the popular reality show Bigg Boss, has always frowned upon some labels. He rejects the tag of atheist often attached to him—for the reason that it is drawn as the opposite of theism.

Talking about archaic Manusmriti is an unnecessary act, Haasan said on Thursday, wading into a burning controversy over the allegedly regressive morality text subscribed by a section of the Hindus.

Haasan was speaking to the press after a three-day brainstorming session with party colleagues.