Coimbatore: The Kongu region is turning out to be a melting pot for deciding Tamil Nadu's political future. Coimbatore being the self proclaimed capital of the Kongu region has been watched keenly from across the country with great interest to see who will win the elections and therefore the path to win a majority in TN.
Coimbatore: The Kongu region is turning out to be a melting pot for deciding Tamil Nadu's political future. Coimbatore being the self proclaimed capital of the Kongu region has been watched keenly from across the country with great interest to see who will win the elections and therefore the path to win a majority in TN.
Recent reports have all but confirmed the NDA will field a BJP candidate in Coimbatore. With that report many usual names started to be floated as potential candidates from the BJP.
C.P. Radhakrishnan, the veteran politician from this region and two time MP was one of the first names doing the rounds, while others like Vanathi Srinivasan from Coimbatore were also being considered. But off late, we have heard a new name being whispered among the party circles. We went about finding out more about this new candidate who might be a contesting from Coimbatore constituency.
Many party sources have hinted to SimpliCity that Professor P. Kanagasabapathy, a cultural economist from Coimbatore could be the new suprise candidate to be fielded by the BJP in Coimbatore.
So, who is P. Kanagasabapathy?
An economist hailing from a farming background, P. Kanagasabapathy is a native of Arasur, Coimbatore and is currently serving as the State President of the Intellectual Wing of BJP in Tamil Nadu.
The 53-year-old economist has conducted a number of studies in various industries and has been instrumental in turning around small scale industries into big players. He was known to be the key behind transforming the kite industry in Gujarat after the Kutch earthquake in 2003. The 35 crore industry, later became a 850 crore business and the Professor's research played a major role in this.
Despite being a new face to electoral politics, Kanagasabapathy has an advantage with his proximity to Amith Shah, according to a BJP source. Speaking on the condition of anonymity of the source said "Kanagasabapathy's name was proposed by Gurumurthy who is known for his proximity to Amith Shah and the Prime Minister.
Last month, during his visit to Coimbatore, Gurumurthy proposed his name to an influential group of people and they have seemingly accepted his proposal".
"Even community wise he is from the same Gounder community as C.P.R, and so there will not be much opposition from that community too", the source added.
Kanagasabapathy is well known amidst the powerloom sector of Palladam, Somanur and the neighbouring areas. He has worked with many industrial associations and popular among the business communities of Coimbatore. Moreover, he is from Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an affliate wing of RSS. He was their national spokesperson and member of All India working committee before he left the organisation and joined the BJP. So he has the support of RSS too and all these factors may go in favour of Kanagasabapathy.
Speaking to Simplicity, Kanagasabapathy said "The decision about the candidate is yet to be decided by the party leadership. However, as a party BJP is looking to work for the industrial development of the Kongu belt. Coimbatore has a unique Entrepreneurial character. The whole of kongu region has never been dependent on the Government for its development".
"BJP will work to create a major Industrial cluster for small and medium industries. Moreover, the party believes that the farmer is the backbone of any economy. Even the industrialists who were instrumental in bringing up the clusters in Tirupur, Karur, Namakkal or Coimbatore are mostly from farming background. Farmers welfare will be a primary conern of the party and BJP will work towards providing a corruption free government".
On the other hand C.P. Radhakrishnan, the veteran BJP leader popularly known as CPR has familiarity as his advantage. He is a well known face of the party in the Kongu region. A two time MP and currently the Chairman of Coir board, CPR won for the first time in 1998 elections with a majority of 1,50,000 votes and again in 1999 with a majority of 55,000 votes.
As Kanagasabapathy is a relatively new face in party politics in Coimbatore, and if the party wants to field someone familiar to the geography then CPR would be the candidate, say political observers.
The other disadvantage as stated by an inside source is that CPR is close to Venkaiah naidu who is no longer powerful in the party as he used to be, where as Kanagasabapathy's closeness to the high command may tilt things in his favour, say inside sources from the party.
It will be interesting to see what route the national party will take in this Lok Sabha elections. Familiarity or New Thinking? Let us know in the comments below!