In the April 19 Lok Sabha polls, undoubtedly, the battle for Coimbatore will be the most watched in Tamil Nadu as the ruling DMK and main opposition AIADMK– the well entrenched Dravidian titans will see a new, aggressive challenger in the IPS officer-turned-politician, BJP’s K Annamalai.
In the wake of fresh challenge from Annamalai, the BJP state chief who has vowed to win the western belt for his party, the ruling DMK chose to not allot the Coimbatore seat, the hub of western Tamil Nadu to allies. Instead, the DMK has fielded its own candidate Ganapathi P Rajkumar from Coimbatore, which is also known as Kovai locally.
In this battle of prestige, the DMK is determined to demonstrate that it continues to be all powerful in the region –its ally CPI(M) nominee PR Natarjan won the seat in 2019. The AIADMK, on its part has resolved to disprove the ruling party and has nominated its IT wing chief Singai G Ramachandran who hails from the same region.
For over four decades, the western region of Tamil Nadu, popularly known as ‘Kongu mandalam’ in Tamil has been without doubt the AIADMK’s bastion. It has made significant electoral gains even in losing causes, such as in 2006 and 2021.
Traditionally, though BJP had some pockets of influence in western Tamil Nadu including Coimbatore, it was woefully insufficient to win enough votes to emerge victorious.
Thirty-eight year old Annamalai, a native of western Tamil Nadu, belonging to the dominant Gounder community, according to party workers, decided to change the scenario by ‘building on strength’ in the region.
Coimbatore and the Nilgiris were among the regions in western Tamil Nadu that the BJP, especially under Annamalai has focused in a sustained manner to build the party.
Roping in regional level leaders, like former elected representatives and opinion makers at the local level has been part of the BJP’s strategy to bring about a real change in its electoral fortunes in the Dravidian state. Coimbatore-Nilgiris region is the crown jewel the Saffron party is eyeing to make deeper inroads in the state.
Annamalai was arguably the first BJP leader in the state to aggressively target the Dravidian ideology and the key two parties –DMK and AIADMK– that represent it.
In fact, the reason given by the AIADMK last year to snap ties with the BJP was that the Saffron party brass did nothing to stop Annamalai from targeting Dravidian ideologue CN Annadurai and late party matriarch J Jayalalithaa.
With Annamalai often taking the lead in targeting the DMK on allegations of corruption besides everyday issues, the AIADMK was perceived by sections of people to be lagging behind in showing the spirit of real opposition.
The fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took out a well-attended roadshow here on Monday, shows the focus the party has given to Coimbatore. Incidentally, he had attended events in two other districts in the ‘Kongu’ region– Tiruppur and Salem, in the past one month.
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