Lok Sabha Elections 2024: What's behind BJP's strategy of fielding Annamalai from Tamil Nadu?

Annamali is the youngest person to become the BJP president in the state where the party is yet to make electoral gains.

Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai is set to make his parliamentary poll debut from Coimbatore. The saffron party, slated to contest 20 out of the state's 39 seats, has announced nine candidates in its third list.

Tamilisai Soundararajan from Chennai south, Vinoj Selvam from Chennai Central, C Narasimhan from Krishnagiri, AC Shanmugam from Vellore, TR Paarivendhar from Perambalur, Nainar Nagendran from Thoothukkudi and Pon Radhakrishnan from Kanyakumari are some of the candidates field by BJP in the state.

Why did the BJP field Annamalai from Coimbatore?

The BJP is reported to have high hopes for the former IPS officer of the Karnataka cadre. As the youngest person to assume the role of BJP president in the state, his leadership is seen as crucial, particularly in a region where the party has yet to make significant electoral gains. “There isn’t just a leadership vacuum in Tamil Nadu, but a vote-share vacuum as well. There is a 40 percent untapped vote share beyond the DMK and the AIADMK. They are unable to organically attract voters despite being in alliance with multiple smaller parties,” a member of Thalapathy Vijay's political team earlier told IndiaToday.in.

Why does the city matter to the BJP?

The BJP's association with Coimbatore dates back to 1998 when BJP veteran LK Advani was visiting the city. During his visit, a series of 12 bombs detonated across 11 sites, resulting in more than 50 deaths and 200 injuries. The radical Islamic organisation Al-Umma, headquartered in Tamil Nadu, was held responsible for the attacks. Allegedly, the assault was in retaliation for Advani's involvement in the Babri Masjid row in Ayodhya in 1992. Advani was in Coimbatore as part of his election campaign at the time of the bombings.

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Since then, the BJP invoked the Coimbatore blasts to woo Hindu voters in Tamil Nadu. The party won the next two elections held in 1998 and 1999.

The significance of Coimbatore in BJP's political strategy was further underscored when Prime Minister Narendra Modi selected the city for his first official rally in Tamil Nadu after assuming office in 2014. Remarkably, even after the announcement of poll dates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the PM chose Coimbatore once more to launch his first rally in the state, emphasising the city's importance in the BJP's electoral agenda.

"The 1998 Coimbatore terror bombings can never be forgotten. Today while in the city, I paid homage to those we lost in those bombings," PM Modi wrote recently on X.

Also, the city’s large textile industry is home to many migrants from North India, giving the BJP a base which it wants to capture.

Past performance

The voting in Tamil Nadu will be held in the first phase on April 19. The BJP did not win a single seat from Tamil Nadu in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It won one in 2014.

The DMK-led alliance clinched a landslide victory, securing as many as 38 out of the total 39 seats. The Congress, an ally of the DMK, managed to win eight out of the nine seats it contested.