BJP Releases List Of 9 Names For Tamil Nadu, Annamalai Leads All Seniors In Fray

Tamil Nadu’s BJP first list of 9 Lok Sabha candidates was more or less on expected lines. The party leadership decided that all its senior leaders — from  state BJP unit chief and charismatic K Annamalai to Union Minister L Murugan to former governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and  former Union minister Pon RadhaKrishnan — must enter the fray and  explore the popularity of  the BJP and ensure that  PM Modi’s message reaches people. This was apparently the desire of PM Modi who has paid special attention to the state and has been regularly visiting Chennai and other TN cities in the past few months. As for constituencies, Annamalai would probably be comfortable in his skin as his maiden contest would be from Coimbatore, which is his home turf. The BJP also enjoys a good support base here. Another contest that would be equally interesting is one in Thoothukudi where the party has fielded Nainar Nagendran against incumbent DMK MP Kanimozhi, sister of TN CM MK Stalin. A combative BJP MLA, Nainar could prove to be a challenge for Kani after rains wreaked havoc in her area recently. The third interesting contest would be Kanyakumari from where Pon Radhakrishnan, who was a minister in Vajpayee government, is looking at a smooth re-election. This is a seat that any Nadar leader would covet. The Perambalur seat has been given to TR Paarvinder, founder of Indiya Jananayaka Katchi. He owns SRM University & Tamil channel Puthia Thalaimurai. It is certainly not going to be a smooth sail for a fellow Nadar leader Tamilisai Soundararajan from Chennai South. Similarly it will  be  a tough battle for Union Minister L Murugan to take on a “resourceful” 2-G enabled A Raja in Nilgiris, a reserved constituency  The  BJP has  fielded a resourceful C Narasimhan from Krishnagiri.