Star candidate: Ganapathi P Rajkumar (Congress)

COIMBATORE: Known for his good connect with the people as Coimbatore’s former AIADMK Mayor, ‘Ganapathi’ P Rajkumar switched many sides and is now the DMK’s ‘native’ choice to defeat ‘outsider’ Annamalai. It’s a sudden rise for the affable leader, given the roller coaster ride he had after being sidelined in the AIADMK.

Rajkumar served as the Mayor of Coimbatore in AIADMK from 2014 to 2016. Beginning his political career with the party in 1989, it appeared there was no looking back as Rajkumar also served as the urban district secretary of the party once.

Rajkumar’s fall in AIADMK began with a reported ‘political difference’ with the party’s ex-minister SP Velumani, the strongman in the Coimbatore region. After being sidelined for a while, Rajkumar tried a second chance following former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s demise. He switched over to O Panneerselvam’s faction expecting a turnaround in political fortunes. But it failed to fructify as his political journey hit a stalemate, even after O Panneerselvam joined hands with Edappadi K Palaniswami’s AIADMK briefly. Rajkumar then made another switch over, this time to the DMK in 2020. He is currently the DMK’s presidium chairman of the Coimbatore district, one of the key leaders strategically used to strengthen Stalin’s party in the Kongu region, which is considered to be a stronghold of AIADMK.

After springing a surprise by jumping into the political ring in the Lok Sabha polls, Rajkumar gained significant attention when his rival turned out to be BJP’s state president K Annamalai in the triangular contest.