Distancing himself from the Income Tax raids held on his party office-bearer’s premises that led to unearthing of unaccounted money, Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan said he was a honest taxpayer.

He was campaigning for candidates of MNM-led alliance. Stating that he had been invited by the I-Tax Department in the past to honour honest taxpayers, Mr. Haasan said it was not right to connect him with those whose premises were raided.

“We have some or other relationship with those people. I have even acted in a film made by DMK youth wing leader Udhayanidhi Stalin. There are corruption charges against his family members. Huge money was recovered from his party functionary’s premises and even an election was countermanded. But, how can people associate me with that raid?” he asked.

Mr. Kamal Haasan said that he was using helicopter with his own hard-earned money. “I never said that I have lost money because of joining politics. I have wantonly come to politics without bothering about money. Otherwise, I would not have come to politics at all,” he said.

The actor-turned-politician said that people should never sell their votes for a few thousand rupees. “If at all you want to sell your vote, demand ₹ 5 lakh for each of your votes. That is the value of your vote,” he said.

He said that ₹ 1,000 a month and ₹ 1,500 a month announced as assistance to housewives by Dravidian parties were pittance. “Six free cooking cylinders announced (by the ruling AIADMK) will only double the debt burden of the State,” he said.

The parties that had copied his idea of giving assistance to housewives would not copy if he said that he would close down half the number of liquor shops in the State. “This is because both the parties own liquor factories,” he said.

It was a shame that the government handed over education to private players and ran liquor shops by IAS officers. Quality education along with skill development would be the only way forward for the youth to become competitive in international job market. “If skilled human resources are developed, India will become a superpower,” he said.

He sought votes for candidates V. Umadevi (Aruppukottai), S. Mugunthan (Sivakasi), Vivekanandan (Rajapalayam) (all MNM) and N. Manimaran (AlSMK – Virudhunagar), and M. Bharathi (Indiya Jananayaka Katchi – Sattur).