The industrially vibrant and communally sensitive Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency is witnessing a prestigious battle, with the BJP national leadership placing bets on its State president K. Annamalai, fielding him here. He is pitted against former Mayor Ganapathi P. Rajkumar, who had joined the DMK in 2020 after quitting the AIADMK; and Singai G. Ramachandran of the AIADMK. Also in the fray is the NTK’s Kalamani Jagannathan.
Traditionally an AIADMK stronghold, Coimbatore has the distinction of returning the BJP’s C.P. Radhakrishnan in 1998 and 1999 when the party was in alliance with the AIADMK and the DMK respectively. The DMK last won this seat in 1996, while in 2004 and 2019, the CPI and the CPI(M) candidates, backed by the Dravidian party, emerged victorious. The BJP, which has failed to win the seat on its own, is banking on its core vote bank and Mr. Annamalai’s popularity to emerge victorious this time. An interesting aspect of this battle is the academic profile of the prominent candidates. Mr. Annamalai and Mr. Ramachandran are alumni of the PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, and the prestigious Indian Institute of Management. Mr. Rajkumar is an alumni of the PSG College of Arts and Science and holds a postgraduate degree in journalism and mass communication, and a doctorate.
Mr. Ramachandran’s father, Singai Govindarajan, was once elected as a legislator from Singanallur.
