Kamal Haasan’s party suffered an inglorious defeat, after having touted itself as the future alternative and the actor as the future chief minister. And then, Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) started imploding—so much so that actress Kasturi asked the obvious. “Is this a political party or the Bigg Boss house?” She was spot on after a spate of desertions from MNM reduced it to the status of the famed TV show that Haasan hosted till a few months ago. The “deserters” include party vice president R. Mahendran, a well-heeled businessman from Coimbatore, who had bankrolled the party’s Lok Sabha campaign. He walked away after shooting off a visceral letter accusing Haasan of behaving like a dictator and depending on a new election consultant and ignoring those who had sailed with him since 2018. Haasan’s response was to call Mahendran a traitor.