Tamil Nadu: On April 12, Rahul and CM Stalin will headline the INDIA rally in Coimbatore

NEW DELHI: On April 12, BJP heavyweight and party state president K. Annamalai will challenge for the coveted Lok Sabha seat of Coimbatore. MK Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be the main speakers at an INDIA bloc event in Coimbatore.
The date of the combined rally involving the two powerful parties has been confirmed by the DMK, the main partner in the state’s governing coalition, together with the Congress and other parties.

Rahul and CM Stalin are expected to lead the rally, requesting votes for candidates who would represent the opposition group in the Lok Sabha election, according to a DMK official statement.
The DMK statement states that the public gathering will take place in the Chettypalayam neighbourhood of Coimbatore.
On April 19, Tamil Nadu will participate in a single phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections for the Lower House.
The ruling party at the centre unleashed its top gun in the Lok Sabha battle this time, fielding state chief Annamalai from Coimbatore with the goal of making deeper electoral inroads south of the Vindhyas, which has remained a nearly impregnable fortress for the Opposition, with the exception of Karnataka, where the BJP has been the ruling party, and Kanyakumari in 2014.
The split of the state’s primary opposition player, the AIADMK, is anticipated to benefit the DMK, which is still the dominant power in the region.
The DMK-led secular coalition won 38 of the 39 seats in the state, thus winning the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
Leading the eight-party alliance are the DMK, with 22 seats up for grabs; the Congress, with 9 seats up for grabs; the CPI (M) and the CPI, each with 2 seats up for grabs; the Indian Muslim League, with one candidate; the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, with 2 seats up for grabs; the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, with one candidate up for grabs; and the Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi (KMDK), with a candidate running on the DMK symbol.
Leading a coalition of four parties in the Lok Sabha, the AIADMK will run for 34 seats, its allies Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam for five, Puthiya Tamilagam for one, and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) for one. The latter two parties, however, would disagree with the surveys over the AIADMK insignia.
In addition to the BJP, which is running for 23 seats, the other nine partners in the election are the Pattali Makkal Katchi (10 seats), the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) (3 seats), O Pannerselvam, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu and leader of the AIADMK (running as an independent); Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMU), led by TTV Dhinakaran (2 seats); and the Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi, Puthiya Needhi Katchi, and Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (1 seat each).
The last three parties, nevertheless, are running on the BJP’s “lotus” emblem.
The Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat was last won by the DMK in 1980 and 1996. Both the 1998 and 2014 general elections saw the party lose seats.
Although the CPM was the winner of the coveted seat in 2019, the DMK fielded Ganapathi P. Rajkumar to keep Coimbatore to themselves this time.
In 2014, the DMK finished third in the count behind CP Radhakrishnan of the BJP, while the AIADMK won Coimbatore by a margin of 42,016 votes.
Having worked hard to build a sizable support base in the seat since 1996, the BJP is now proud of it.