This may be his first Lok Sabha election, but there are no signs of it as the Tamil Nadu BJP chief campaigns in his Coimbatore constituency, entertaining supporters till late into the night as they wait to give him a rousing welcome.
TDP leader Nara Lokesh campaigns in Telugu for Annamalai at a neighbourhood near Singanallur in Coimbatore with a sizable Telugu Naidu community votes.
Asserting that Tamil Nadu is going to be the face of the BJP’s emergence in the South in the coming elections, he adds: “What we are going to witness is a revolt against the conventional political classes.
Not just Coimbatore, he is confident of the Tirunelveli district emerging as a BJP stronghold, as well as Tenkasi.
His closest rival was C P Radhakrishnan of the BJP, who got 31.47% votes in an AIADMK-led alliance.
K Annamalai is nothing if not confident. This may be his first Lok Sabha election, but there are no signs of it as the Tamil Nadu BJP chief campaigns in his Coimbatore constituency, entertaining supporters till late into the night as they wait to give him a rousing welcome.
There is a basis to that confidence, apart from the crowds. Since he vaulted over senior leaders to take over as state chief, the 39-year-old former IPS officer has kept the BJP in the buzz in Tamil Nadu – and, going by his claims, also in business, in a state where the party is yet to make a mark.
Coimbatore is a largely urban and semi-urban constituency of middle-class residents, with a strong AIADMK and DMK vote base but also a BJP presence – Annamalai’s no-nonsense police pedigree is now an added plus. Plus, Tamil Nadu has been watching the free hand given to him by a party that is otherwise a tight ship run from the top – to the extent of letting his unrestrained criticism of the AIADMK go unchecked, till the BJP ally finally walked out.
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The party is set to miss the AIADMK in the coming Lok Sabha elections, but the jury is out on whether this will help the BJP’s long-term interests in the state.
TDP leader Nara Lokesh campaigns in Telugu for Annamalai at a neighbourhood near Singanallur in Coimbatore with a sizable Telugu Naidu community votes. (Express photo by Arun Janardhanan) TDP leader Nara Lokesh campaigns in Telugu for Annamalai at a neighbourhood near Singanallur in Coimbatore with a sizable Telugu Naidu community votes. (Express photo by Arun Janardhanan)
As The Indian Express travels with him for his campaign run through Coimbatore late Thursday evening, Annamalai says that the BJP will get seats “in double digits”, and come second “in all the remaining seats”. Asserting that Tamil Nadu is going to be the face of the BJP’s emergence in the South in the coming elections, he adds: “What we are going to witness is a revolt against the conventional political classes. It’s not just a consolidation (behind the BJP), but a revolt by certain communities and backward classes against traditional Dravidian parties and zero development.”
Pointed out that even Narendra Modi only has good words for the late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, who had good relations with the BJP leader, while he shows no hesitation in calling her corrupt, Annamalai says: “I know the ground intimately, every nook and corner… Especially in the south, the AIADMK’s collapse is evident, and we are filling up the vacuum… And I am attacking the AIADMK leadership, not the cadres… When a party doesn’t have leaders who inspire, they can’t take their voters for granted. The AIADMK has a corrupt, self-serving leadership, which is community oriented… Remember that I have never criticised MGR.”
To the sceptics, Annamalai says all his decisions will be “vindicated” come June 4, the results day. Not just Coimbatore, he is confident of the Tirunelveli district emerging as a BJP stronghold, as well as Tenkasi.
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Other candidates in the Coimbatore fray include Singai Ramachandran, a young and popular AIADMK face, former Coimbatore mayor and DMK alliance nominee Ganapathi Rajkumar, and Kalamani of the Naam Tamilar Katchi.
In 2019, the CPI(M)’s P R Natarajan had won Coimbatore as part of the DMK-led alliance, capturing 45.85% of the vote here. His closest rival was C P Radhakrishnan of the BJP, who got 31.47% votes in an AIADMK-led alliance.
The BJP has given Annamalai a vehicle fitting of his stature as a rising star, complete with a motorised platform that raises him to the roof to greet people who surround his convoy and force it to a crawl. As he pushes the Election Commission deadline of a wrap by 10 pm on Thursday, a child is raised up at one place for him to “bless”; there is a shower of garlands at another; a group of young girls and boys seek his autograph in Peelamedu; while others want a selfie. When a man brings along his mother to meet him, Annamalai takes her blessings.
He ensures to greet almost all as he makes his way through middle-class neighbourhoods, if not share a few words with them.
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Using the van driver’s pen to scribble his autograph, Annamalai says people are looking at the BJP due to “the stark contrast between actual development and the empty rhetoric of Dravidian development models” in these parts.
Noting how people, old and young, have been waiting to meet him despite a delay at times of four-and-a-half hours, Annamalai says: “It’s something special as these are not organised party crowds… They’re going to vote for us because the BJP has captured their imagination.”
He goes on: “There is a neo middle-class, and a lot of economic classes – this election is going to be about their emergence. Their children are aspirational, they want better education, opportunities, cities.”
Annamalai is also clear about the other promise the BJP holds: of Hindutva, with the party having systematically worked since 2014 on a social engineering plan to consolidate the Hindu votes in Tamil Nadu, cutting across forward and backward groups.
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So what about minorities, especially in areas like Muslim-dominated Ukkadam in Coimbatore which usually favour the DMK and its Left allies?
Annamalai says he engages with everybody equally. “I will engage with Muslims just like I engage with Hindus and Christians. For me, it’s the same narrative, the same speech… Why should a Muslim vote for me? For the same reason that a Hindu or a Christian should: because I am the best candidate to create a fair city for their children in the next five years. So, I don’t differentiate between religions. Neither should they.”
