The Makkal Sakthi Katchi (MKS) (meaning party of people’s power) on Saturday became the Lok Satta Party in Tamil Nadu by formally merging with the latter.
Formally launching the unit, Lok Satta Party president Jayaprakash Narayan called upon the middle classes and the media to shed cynicism, overcome despair and join the Lok Satta Party which is providing an ethical, political platform to transform Indian politics.
“It is time the best and the brightest shouldered the responsibilities of leadership as in the days of the freedom movement and strove to make the country great. Let us not squander the present priceless opportunity.”
Dr Narayan said that the country would be in grave peril unless it addressed seven grave challenges confronting the country today. He listed them as poverty, corruption, centralization, absence of rule of law, urban-rural divide, liquor and drug menace and divisions within society. The Lok Satta provided the right platform for the millions of people who are thirsting for change by addressing the challenges.
Most of the one-year-old Makkal Sakthi Katchi (MKS) members had been active in Makkal Sakthi Iyakkam founded by Mr. Udaya Murthy in 1988. They came out of the movement, founded the MKS and even contested in three by-elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly in the last one year.
The average age of the members of the Tamil Nadu Lok Satta Party Executive is 32.