No other politician can boast such a vast number of volunteers who descend on a constituency the moment the candidate list is announced. Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) chief K Annamalai is the luckiest one to boast over 12,000 volunteers who are on the field going door to door to seek votes for him without any expectation.
The national BJP kept the candidature of Annamalai for the Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency a secret till the last minute. Annamalai told the media that he would stand for the Lok Sabha elections as he has to tour the State canvass votes for the BJP and its alliance candidates. At the same time, he would abide by the party’s decision as a true soldier of the party. Since his name was announced, the jubilant cadres from Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states started arriving in Coimbatore with bags for a month-long stay at their own expense. Besides that, the party has been enrolling volunteers for Annamalai, and the response was overwhelming, running to lakhs. The party decided to restrict the numbers to equal distribution of cadres in all 39 constituencies.
The cadres who arrived in Coimbatore went around the city with a slogan: “It is our Kovai (short form for Coimbatore), it is our Annamalai.” The slogan rants the air in all streets. Approximately over 12,000 cadres came to the Cotton City, or the Manchester of South India, for Campaigning.
In 2021, IPS officer turned politician Annamalai faced an electoral debut from the Aravakurichi assembly segment in the Karur district. At that time, workers from other states canvassed for him, too. The same way this time, too, they wanted to work. It is like a column army moving the highly populated city. The marriage and event management organiser Sudharshan told the media, “I told Annamalai that people wanted to work for you. They are apolitical workers. They are not members of any political party. To that , Annamalai said very good, you can engage them and do the campaigning work. Immediately I sent a message to over 7,000 people who are in contact with me; pl give me your willingness to work for Annamalai and details like number of days, any specific days or timings”.
He said minutes after sending the message, over 1,200 people came forward to work for Annamalai. Through them, the number has reached 12,430. After the numbers crossed ten thousand, I informed Annamalai. He came forward to address them in a motivational manner and give them tips to follow while canvassing, what should be highlighted and what should be avoided.
Sudharshan said:” We have divided them into groups, such as full-timers, part-timers, and those who want to work from home. We have assigned jobs according to their interest and timings to suit their requirements. But there are five commands all should follow without fail. They are:
- They should speak to the friends or people in their contact list with an appeal to vote for BJP;
- They should go to at least 20 houses in their area and discuss with the families to ensure they will vote for the BJP. Clear their doubts, list the achievements of the Modi Government in the last ten years;
- The volunteer team should make visits to the area in which they are residents or streets, flats, or housing colonies and make conversations. ;
- The volunteer team to pick up booths in their area and visit all 300 households seeking votes for Annamalai
- All should, through their WhatsApp app, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media, why Modi should be elected a third time. Why BJP should win in Coimbatore, they should also share the past 10 years achievement of Modi Government with proof of supporting videos, graphics, images etc”.
“With these five points, volunteers are working in Coimbatore. This will go on till April 17, the last day for Campaigning. For this purpose, we have opened an office in Coimbatore Ram Nagar.” he said.
Apart from this, there are the Modi Army, Annamalai army, friends, social media influencers, WhatsApp groups, well-wishers, the party’s committed cadres, and workers from allies who are all on the field carrying party flags seeking votes undeterred by the scorching heat. With optimistic poll predictions, the BJP is confident of winning a two-digit number of seats with a vote share of over 20 per cent. It wants to cash on Modi’s achievement, a global guru status for Bharat, handling of the Covid pandemic situation, infrastructure development, resilient economy, inflation control measures and, of course, the strong anti-establishment against the ruling DMK. The fight is going to be tri-polar, but actually, it is between BJP and DMK. An insider close to top BJP leaders said, “the massive crowd turnout for Annamalai may be like a mirage . It should convert into votes. We have to wait till counting to know this. On seeing the bright chances for BJP, it is alleged, DMK, AIADMK and other cohorts have made a tacit understanding to vote among them to avoid splitting of votes that may prevent Annamalai or BJP winning. Also to consolidate opposition votes against BJP will help defeat the national party”.
