Kamal Haasan to campaign for TMC's Andaman candidate

Kolkata: Actor-turned-politician and founder of Makkal Needhi Maiam Kamal Haasan will campaign for the Trinamool Congress candidate of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Haasan announced the same after holding a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna on Monday.

"The meeting was excellent. Makkal Needhi Maiam is in alliance with Trinamool Congress for Andaman and we hope this special relationship will evolve in future. I am going to campaign for their candidate in Andaman and for this I am going there on April 6," Haasan told reporters after his meeting with Banerjee that lasted more than an hour.

The Chief Minister said that Trinamool Congress has forged an alliance with the party which Hassan had floated on February 21 last year, from his hometown of Rameswaram.

"He came to wish me well. There will be a public meeting at Andaman in support of Trinamool's candidate, which Haasan will address. On behalf of our party, Sujit Bose will be present," Banerjee said.

Trinamool Congress has nominated Ayaan Mondal to contest for the Lok Sabha seat in the islands. Mondal is the grandson of eight-time MP from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Manoranjan Bhakta, who had won on a Congress ticket.

Bishnu Pada Ray of BJP is the sitting MP of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In 2014, he had won by a margin of 7,812 votes.

When questioned whether Haasan will campaign for Trinamool in Bengal, he said: "I will consider this. But right now my hands are full. There are 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and my first concentration will be on that state. But my love for Bengal and Kerala will continue."

He also maintained that MNM is a small regional party and the alliance will be taken forward step-by-step, following discussions with the Chief Minister.

It may be mentioned that Andaman and Nicobar Islands has only one Lok Sabha constituency, which represents the entire Union Territory.

Haasan has recently proved himself to be a sharp critic of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him a "rich man's guard."