Ex-IT secy, another candidate who lost poll quit MNM as exodus continues

Chennai: Resignations continue to jolt actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) with former IAS official and state IT secretary Santhosh Babu and one more functionary announcing their decisions to resign from the party on Thursday.

Santhosh Babu, who was in the news last year for refusing to clear a skewed BharatNet tender under the earlier AIADMK government, cited “personal reasons” for quitting his post and membership in MNM. Having taken VRS from his service, he joined MNM late last year and was its candidate from Velachery assembly segment, where he came third.

Within minutes, Padma Priya, a former Youtuber and MNM candidate in Maduravoyal, too announced her resignation from the party. But she just said due to “some reasons” in her tweet announcing her resignation. She was also the party’s state secretary (environment wing).

Last Thursday, MNM vice-president R Mahendran resigned from the party citing lack of democracy in its decision-making process. Several senior functionaries including Santhosh Babu and C K Kumaravel submitted their resignation letters to the party president on the same day but it was termed an exercise owning moral responsibility for the defeat of the party in the election.

Unlike last Thursday, when Kamal Haasan issued a strongly worded rebuttal to Mahendran, the MNM did not issue any official statement this Thursday. While party insiders expect a statement on Friday, the non-reactionhas prompted a thinking that it could be part of the leadership’s attempt to allow “some more weeds to weed out themselves”.

A week after Mahendran’s resignation, no leader or functionary is willing to say on record what is rocking the MNM over the past couple of weeks, especially after Kamal Haasan silently walked out of the counting centre on the night of May 2 after losing to BJP’s Vanathi Srinivasan. “After the April 6 polls, Kamal Sir held a series of zonal meetings and listened to their feedback,” said a source in MNM. But things took a turn after the results and Kamal reportedly sought to blame the functionaries for the defeat, the source said.