February 14, 1998, changed Coimbatore forever. Not love and kinship, but hate and anger, fear and insecurity, swept over the city. The serial bomb blasts, set off by the Islamist group Al-Umma, were timed to coincide with the visit of BJP leader L K Advani, but they changed the political character of the constituency. And, the BJP gained a foothold in the region long dominated by the AIADMK and the DMK.
CP Radhakrishnan, now Jharkhand Governor, won two consecutive terms on the BJP ticket from the constituency, the first time in alliance with the AIADMK, and the second time with the DMK. It is noteworthy that in 2014, without any alliance with either of the Dravidian parties, Radhakrishnan polled 3,89,000 votes, second to AIADMK’s P Nagarajan, who won by a margin of only 42,016. However, in 2019, in alliance with AIADMK, he lost to PR Natarajan of CPI(M) by 1,79,143 votes despite polling 3,92,000. So, the saffron party has an already established vote bank in Coimbatore.
Now, state BJP president K. Annamalai has another factor aiding his candidature from the constituency: he is a Gounder, a dominant landholding community in the western region of the state. Things would have been a lot easier if the BJP were in an alliance with the AIADMK, whose hold in the region remains strong, but the high profile Annamalai would still fancy his chances.
Despite the region being its bastion, the AIADMK did not field a well-known face in this election. Without a national-level alliance partner, the AIADMK doesn't have many campaign points either. The party performed well in the Assembly election of 2021 after facing a drubbing just two years earlier in the Lok Sabha polls. In fact, BJP's Vanathi Srinivasan was able to trounce her opponents, especially the high profile Kamal Haasan, only with AIADMK support. Credit for this goes to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy, a Gounder, who brought in a lot of development projects in the region, which the current MK Stalin government is continuing.
But now, with the DMK fielding a former AIADMK mayor, Ganapathi P Rajkumar, many believe the AIADMK, represented by Singai G Ramachandran, is not putting in its best efforts in this election. According to an observer in Coimbatore, DMK campaign has been more forceful against Annamalai, rather than against the AIADMK. The DMK, interestingly, is contesting the Coimbatore constituency after a decade, taking the seat from the CPI(M) and also fielding a former AIADMK functionary.
A challenge to Annamalai?
A former IPS officer of Karnataka cadre of 2011 batch, Annamalai (39) served as SP Chikmagalur and Udupi and also as DCP Bangalore (South). He quit the police service in 2019 and later joined the BJP. As a police officer he was addressed as ‘Singam’ (lion) for his tough and strict disposition in the police force. He had shared secular thoughts at meetings and about Tipu Sultan’s contribution to Temples and mutts, trying to bring amity among the communal groups.
Joining the Tamil Nadu BJP, he was soon made the state president. He is popular amongst the youth. Hailing from Karur, near Coimbatore, Annamalai toured through the state. His popular seven month padayatra ‘En Mannu, En Makkal’ (my soil, my people) made him familiar with the people of the state. In the 2021 Assembly election, he contested from Aravakurichi (under Karur LS constituency), but lost to the DMK candidate R Elango by 24,816 votes.
As the state chief of the BJP, he not only took on DMK with his ‘DMK Files’, but was also critical of the party ally, AIADMK. This caused the alliance to break up. But, the BJP leadership has fielded Annamalai from Coimbatore, an AIADMK bastion. Had the alliance stuck on, Annamalai would have probably found a way to victory. But going it alone, the BJP will find victory an uphill climb. The concern is evident from Annamalai's recent remark: “Now, DMK and AIADMK are not together. But they will join hands after April 10. They will enable vote transfer to the other party. One of the two parties would slow down their campaign to enable the other party to win.”
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