COIMBATORE: When it comes to Lok Sabha elections, Coimbatore, the second largest city of Tamil Nadu, has a history of giving an upper hand to the candidates of national parties. In the past 17 parliamentary elections, victory has always taken the side of the Congress, BJP, CPI or CPI(M) in the constituency.
This time, the game is more exciting as the constituency is witnessing a three-cornered contest with Dravidian majors AIADMK and DMK locking horns with BJP, the ruling party at the centre. While the AIADMK wants to ensure that the Kongu region, particularly Coimbatore, continues to be its bastion, the DMK wants to breach the fort and come out of its 2014 poll nightmare when the party was pushed to the third place.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned twice in the constituency — a public meeting in Palladam and a road show in RS Puram. This indicates the BJP, which is targeting more than 400 seats in the 2024 LS elections, fancies its chances here. Though party state president K Annamalai (39) was not keen on contesting but in touring across TN, he ended up nodding to the high command’s decision. The notion that Annamalai might get a ministerial birth, given he and the NDA alliance turn victorious, could work in his favour.
Glancing back to the previous polls, BJP won twice — in 1998 and 1999 — in the aftermath of the bomb blast. Also, they managed to get around four lakh votes in 2014 in alliance with DMDK, PMK, MDMK and in 2019 in an alliance with AIADMK. This time, the BJP has entered into an alliance with PMK and AMMK and is banking on the campaigning of Annamalai and PM Modi, who is likely to visit the district one more time.
In majority of the elections gone by, the AIADMK managed to perform well in Coimbatore. The party, in alliance with the BJP, won all 10 assembly segments here in the 2021 polls. In the local body polls of 2022, they were in shock as the party came first in only three out of the 100 wards. Now, all they are looking for is to regain the party’s lost ground through the success of Singai G Ramachandran (36).
In a meeting after the candidate announcement, AIADMK local strongman SP Velumani said the fight is between AIADMK and DMK, and BJP, with its 3-4% vote share, cannot win even if they manage to get 10% votes. The prospect of AIADMK candidate Ramachandran depends on how Velumani manages the poll.
The DMK’s decision to field their candidate in Coimbatore instead of giving the seat to CPM, who won in their alliance last time, came as a surprise. Interestingly, DMK has fielded former mayor Ganapathi P Rajkumar (59) who joined the party only in December 2020.
Sitting MP PR Natarajan said, “CPM did ask for Coimbatore but was allocated Madurai and Dindigul.” Though DMK lost all 10 assembly seats in the district, the party decimated AIADMK in the 2022 local body polls, grabbing 96 out of the 100 wards in the corporation. The credit solely was to former minister V Senthil Balaji, who is now in prison in a money laundering case handled by the Enforcement Directorate.
Industries Minister TRB Rajaa has taken charge this time. Have the local functionaries learned from Senthil Balaji’s electioneering and will help Rajkumar cross the final line? We will have to wait and watch. Caste equations also have a crucial role in poll victory. While Annamalai and Rajkumar belong to the Gounder community, Ramachandran is from the Naidu community. With all three of them being well-educated, (Annamalai and Ramachandran are alumni of IIMs and Rajkumar is a PhD holder) voters in Coimbatore can expect a mature election campaign, detailing each of the candidates’ ideas.
Though it is one of the well-developed cities after Chennai, Coimbatore still needs the attention of both Union and state governments on various fronts.
Concerns of MSME sector
Due to the Union government’s policy on MSME, micro and small industries were unable to come up the growth ladder, felt J James, chief coordinator of the Federation of Coimbatore Industries Association. “In the last two years, Union government has stopped the 15% subsidy given to small and micro industries for purchasing machineries. We have also been demanding for the removal of GST for job works and reduction of GST to 5% for micro and small industries,” he added. The skyrocketing price of raw materials is also a major concern for the MSMEs. The price needs to be controlled by bringing in restrictions on the export of raw materials by big companies and import of goods from foreign countries, which will help local industries sustain, James demanded.
Textile industry too in crisis
Prabhu Dhamodharan, convenor of the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) asked the Union government to take steps to increase the cotton yield from the present 450-500 kg per hectare to at least 700-750 kg per hectare, which will be a permanent solution for both farmers and textile manufacturers. The government must also ensure that textile manufacturers get raw materials at competitive prices and it should not be taxed in any form, which will lead to the competitiveness of the finished product, he added. Powerlooms which were predominant in Palladam and Sulur assembly segments also expect a helping hand from the centre. “We expect subsidy for installing solar panels and automation of the looms. Also, we urged the Centre to intervene to ensure stable cotton prices,” said E Boopathi, treasurer of Job Working Power Loom Unit Weavers Association. On the infrastructure front, people expect progress in the airport, railways, and road sectors.
J Sathish, director of Kongu Global Forum, an association of industrial, business and trade leaders from Western Tamil Nadu said, “Apart from expansion of the Coimbatore International Airport, which is used by over 30 lakh passengers annually, we were demanding for the direct flight to Dubai for many years now. On the Railways front, we want the Coimbatore junction to be redeveloped and an overnight train to Bengaluru needs to be introduced since more software companies are here. DPR for the Eastern Bypass road project was already prepared and it was not taken forward by the NHAI. Similarly, DPR was prepared for the Coimbatore Metro and we need Union government’s support for funding as well as the approval process.”
K Annamalai (BJP): We are preparing separate manifestos for each of the Lok Sabha constituencies which will be released in the first week of April
Ganapathi P Rajkumar (DMK): We will work to speed up the Metro project, expansion of the airport, and bringing better train connectivity to Coimbatore
Singai G Ramachandran (AIADMK): I pledge to make the city a start-up and IT hub, bring sustainable infra developments and provide good governance
Know your constituency
Assembly segments : Coimbatore (North), Coimbatore (South), Singanallur, Sulur, Kavundampalayam and Palladam (Tiruppur district)
No. of voters :
20,83,034 total
10,30,063 male
10,52,602 female
369 trans persons
Polling stations : 2,048 polling stations in 580 locations (1,424 urban; 624 rural)
Past results : Performance of political parties in the past elections
In the previous 17 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won five times, including the first election in 1951 when their candidate TA Ramalinga Chettiar won without a contest, followed by CPI — four times, CPM — thrice, BJP and DMK — twice and AIADMK in 2014
Result of 2019 LS polls:
1. PR Natarjan (CPM) 5,71,150 votes (45.66%)
2. CP Radhakrishnan (BJP) 3,92,007 votes (31.34%)
3. R Mehendran (MNM) 1,44,808 votes (11.6%)
4. S Kalyanasundaram (NTK) 60,519 votes (4.84 %)
5. NR Appathurai (Independent) 37,989 (3.04%)
Result of 2014 LS polls
1. P Nagarajan (AIADMK) 4,31,717 votes (36.69%)
2. CP Radhakrishnan (BJP) 3,88,991 votes (33.12%)
3. K Ganeshkumar (DMK) 2,16,582 votes (18.45%)
4. R Prabhu (Congress) 56,811 votes (4.84 %)
5. PR Natarajan (CPM) 34,124 (2.91%)
Coimbatore constituency
All well-educated candidates
With all three candidates of Coimbatore being well-educated — Annamalai and Ramachandran are alumni of IIMs and Rajkumar is a PhD holder — voters can expect a mature election campaign, with each of them detailing their development plans for the region