My party ready to face TN bypolls, says Kamal Haasan
Chennai, Nov 7: Actor-politician Kamal Haasan Wednesday said his party Makkal Needhi Maiam was ready to face the bypolls for 20 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu whenever they were held.
"At this point of time, we can say bypolls may be conducted. I do not know whether it will be held definitely.
Suppose, if it is conducted, Makkal Needhi Maiam is ready to face it", he said.
Haasan was addressing reporters here on the occasion of his 64th birthday.
Bypolls are due in the 20 constituencies, which have fallen vacant following the Madras High Court last month upholding the disqualification of the 18 AIADMK MLAs who back Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader TTV Dhinakaran and in view of demise of two sitting members, including DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi.
Answering a question, Haasan said his basic objective was to facilitate healthy politics.
"When you say healthy politics, it also holds the meaning of being scam free. If we do healthy politics, everyone can strongly hope that all sectors will see growth", he said.
The popular actor said, "I do not make any promises wherever I go. But, I receive it from them (people) instead.
They all unanimously promised me that they made a mistake by accepting money for vote and that they will not do that again.
I hope they will fulfil it", he said.
He dismissed the allegation of local Congress leader 'Karate' Thiagarajan that his party was acting like a "mouthpiece" of BJP.
In his birthday message to his party members and followers released on Sunday, Haasan has slammed "existing political parties and politicians" for viewing welfare as 'alms' and charged that they indulge in corruption as if it is their full-time occupation.
The actor had also exhorted them to take up welfare activities rather than meeting him to wish him on his birthday.
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11 more bodies retrieved from Arunachal accident site
Itanagar (PTI): Eleven more bodies were retrieved on Saturday from the deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, where a mini-truck on which 22 labourers from Assam were travelling fell, an official said.
With this, 17 bodies have been recovered from the accident site, Anjaw's deputy commissioner Milo Kojin said.
He said three more bodies will be brought out on Sunday.
The operation, being conducted by a joint team of the NDRF and Army, resumed at 6 am.
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"The retrieval process was extremely difficult because of the treacherous terrain, and the gorge is very deep," Kojin said.
The operation was suspended around 4 pm due to low visibility and will be resumed on Sunday morning, he said.
"One person is still missing, and a search operation will be carried out tomorrow," he added.
The accident happened on the evening of December 8, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam in the district. On the evening of December 10, one survivor managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) labour camp, following which the authorities were alerted.
Six bodies were recovered from the gorge on Friday and handed over to their families on Saturday.
