Tamil Nadu: Rahul, CM Stalin to frontline INDIA rally in Coimbatore on April 12

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will headline an INDIA bloc rally in Coimbatore, the prized Lok Sabha seat that is to be contested by BJP heavyweight and the party's state president K Annamalai, on April 12.

The DMK, which is the senior partner in the ruling alliance in the state, which also features the Congress and other parties, confirmed the date for the joint rally featuring the two heavyweights.

According to an official release from the DMK, Rahul and CM Stalin will be at the forefront of the rally where they will seek electoral support for candidates representing the Opposition bloc in the battle for the Lok Sabha.

The public meeting will be held in Coimbatore's Chettypalayam area, according to the DMK release.

Tamil Nadu will poll for the Lower House in a single phase, on April 19, in the seven-phased Lok Sabha elections.

Aiming to make deeper electoral inroads south of the Vindhyas, which has remained a virtually impregnable fortress for the Opposition, barring Karnataka, where the BJP been the ruling party, and Kanyakumari in 2014, the ruling party at the Centre unleashed top gun in the Lok Sabha battle this time, fielding state chief Annamalai from Coimbatore.

However, the DMK, which remains a preeminent force in the state, is expected to profit from the split in the principal opposition player in the state--the AIADMK.

In 2019, the DMK-led secular alliance swept the Lok Sabha polls in the state, winning 38 of the 39 seats in the state.

The DMK, which is contesting 22 seats, leads an eight-party alliance that includes the Congress, which is contesting 9 seats; the CPI(M) and the CPI that are contesting 2 seats each; the Indian Muslim League, which has fielded a lone candidate; the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, which is contesting 2 seats, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which has fielded a lone candidate; and the Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi (KMDK), whose candidate will contest on the DMK symbol.

The AIADMK, which is leading an alliance of four parties in the Lok Sabha, will contest 34 seats while itrs partners Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam will contest 5, the Puthiya Tamilagam and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) one each. However, the latter two parties will contest the polls on the AIADMK symbol.

The BJP, which is contesting 23 seats, will go into the polls with nine other partners; including the Pattali Makkal Katchi on 10 seats), the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) on 3 seats, former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK leader O Pannerselvam, who is contesting as an Independent; Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMU), headed by TTV Dhinakaran, on 2 seats, and the Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi, Puthiya Needhi Katchi and Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam on one seat each.

However, the latter three parties are contesting on the BJP's 'lotus' symbol.

The DMK last won the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat in 1980 and 1996. The party lost the seat in the 1998 and 2014 general elections.

While the CPM won the prized seat in 2019, the DMK kept Coimbatore to itself this time, fielding Ganapathi P. Rajkumar.

In 2014, the AIADMK won Coimbatore by a margin of 42,016 votes while the DMK dropped to third in the tally behind CP Radhakrishnan of the BJP.

The BJP now boasts of a sizeable vote bank in the constituency, which it had been cultivating since 1996.

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