Tamil Nadu Assembly Election 2021 | Santosh Babu of MNM says that the party cannot be held responsible for the unaccounted wealth of individuals.

Former IAS officer Santosh Babu, Who stepped down as a bureaucrat to join Kamal Haasan’s Makkali Nidi Maim (MNM), insisted that the party is transparent in its behavior. In a telephonic interview, the Velachery candidate who landed with COVID-19 says that the party cannot be held responsible for the unaccounted money of individual members. Edited excerpts:

Why did you join MNM when there were other options?

MNM was the only party and Kamal Haasan was the only person who spoke openly about honesty and honesty in politics. Other parties are immersed in corruption.

MNM was a party with new ideas and looking for good people to attend. I know that Mr. Haasan does what he says; He is not two-faced [other] Politician.

You say that honesty attracted you to the party. But last week, the Income Tax Department seized huge amounts of cash from the premises of the treasurer of your party. How do you see it?

Mr. Haasan has answered this. But within the party, no one takes cash at any stage – it is either a demand draft or check, and accounts are maintained. The party cannot be held responsible for the unaccounted cash of individuals.

Have you done a SWOT analysis on the major problems in your constituency?

The day my constituency changed from Villivakkam to Velachery, we had three meetings. Each ward was discussed in detail. We put the problems on one side and the solutions on the other and based on that, we prepared our manifesto. Unfortunately, after I contracted COVID-19, I could not go to these places. Drainage is a big issue here, and we have to solve this problem by sitting together. Floods are another concern.

In our manifesto, we have said that we will find a permanent solution to the flood. Most of the roads are bad; The footpaths have been encroached upon; And the power fluctuates. These are all concerns because there are many IT firms here, and they also affect the common man.

After being hospitalized, you tweeted that you would go ahead with the digital campaign. Do you think this will work?

Digital campaigns cannot dominate physical campaigns. When people see you, they smile and wave; You can see their reaction. In digital publicity, connectivity is sometimes an issue – I’m sitting with two power banks. Since doctors have advised rest, I am getting late. I do nine hours of publicity every day [online]. But my volunteers are on the field, distributing leaflets and helping me reach voters through video.

I hope that someday the government will stop physical campaigns and adopt digital campaigns. By doing this, a lot of money could be saved.

How do you see your party’s prospects?

We are a three-year-old party and people know us well. We have an excellent manifesto that was prepared by our own teams – which is not outsourced to strategists – after consultation with experts and the public.

Our manifesto has a transformative agenda and we have ideas to consider. Tamil Nadu is not for sale, and people should not sell their votes for cash.