LS polls: Tough battle for Annamalai in Kovai

Chennai: Tamil Nadu BJP President, K Annamalai is giving a tough fight to the INDIA bloc and the AIADMK alliance in the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat.

Annamalai is taking on Ganapathi P Rajkumar of the DMK and Singai G Ramachandran of the AIADMK in a three-cornered contest.

The young IPS-officer-turned politician has created an image of a crusader against corruption.

He has taken on the DMK by bringing out in public domain several alleged corruption charges against the ruling party in Tamil Nadu under the name, ‘DMK files’.

His six-month-long padyatra, ‘My land, my people’ has created a major impact among the people in Tamil Nadu.

Annamalai has showcased the central government’s schemes, including welfare programmes and attacked the DMK for its ‘poor’ governance and lashed out against the BJP’s then-ally AIADMK and forced it to snap ties with the party.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, CPI(M) leader, PR Natarajan won the seat as part of the DMK alliance, defeating BJP leader CP Radhakrishnan by a margin of 1,79,143 votes.

It may be recalled that the BJP was in an alliance with the AIADMK in the 2019 general elections and the 2021 Assembly polls.