[5] The MTD contested the 2001 election as a junior partner in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led front.
[6][7][8] Kannappan claimed that the BJP is attempting to saffronise the southern districts and polarise the voters on religious lines.
He then quit the AIADMK and decided to support the DMK-led front in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
[9] Kannappan — together with his wife, mother, two brothers, two sisters and mother-in-law — were among several former ADMK legislators charged with having assets disproportionate to their known income by Tamil Nadu Police in June 2005.
[5] The issue had first been investigated in 1996 and all charges were dismissed by the courts in 2015 due to lack of evidence, by which time his wife and mother had died.