Chennai, Nov 7 (IANS): Actor and politician Kamal Haasan, who celebrates his 67th birthday Sunday, has asked members of his Makkal Needhi Maiam party to rush help to those affected by the heavy rains in the state, saying this would be the biggest birthday gift that they could present him.

The appeal comes at a time when Tamil Nadu has been experiencing heavy showers. In particular, Chennai experienced very heavy rainfall on Saturday night. The heavy downpour has left several parts of the city flooded, with water entering homes in some residential areas.

Taking to Twitter to make the appeal, Kamal made it clear that the help that the volunteers provided to the poor and the downtrodden who were affected by the rains was the biggest birthday gift that they could present him.

Interestingly, a number of welfare activities that had been planned on the occasion of the actor's birthday have been cancelled because of the rains.

An earlier statement from Makkal Needhi Maiam's information division had said that a series of welfare activities beginning from 10 a.m., were to be carried out through the day to mark the occasion of the party president's birthday. These included an eye camp, a dental camp, a blood donation camp and an organ donation camp, all of which were scheduled to be inaugurated by Kamal Haasan at the party office.

However, the rains have forced all of these welfare activities to be postponed to another day.