The blasts, orchestrated by Al-Umma — a radical Islamist organisation born within the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition — had polarised the political terrain of the town. Founded by S.A. Basha in 1993, Al-Umma had beforehand focused the RSS workplace in Chennai, ensuing within the deaths of 11 folks. The Coimbatore blasts turned the tide in favour of the BJP, which was then a part of the AIADMK alliance.
Three BJP candidates secured victories, together with Mr. Radhakrishnan, who received the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat with a margin of over 1.4 lakh votes. Following this success, the BJP and its allies, led by A.B. Vajpayee, fashioned the federal government on the Centre. However, the federal government lasted just one yr, as AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa withdrew her help.
Subsequently, the BJP fashioned an alliance with the DMK, then the ruling celebration in Tamil Nadu. Mr. Radhakrishnan was re-elected from Coimbatore within the 1999 normal elections. His election from Coimbatore — the ‘capital’ of the Kongu area and an industrial hub of Tamil Nadu — additional propelled his political ascent.
Turn to the Sangh
Mr. Radhakrishnan, a businessman who runs textile items, comes from a household of Congress supporters. However, his political leanings shifted in the direction of the Janata Party and Jan Sangh.
He accompanied the late Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar on a nationwide padayatra from Kanniyakumari in 1983. He additionally labored intently with The Hindu Munnani, based by Rama Gopalan, who spearheaded The Hindutva ideology in Tamil Nadu. Later, he joined the RSS, finally changing into the president of the Sangh in Tiruppur.
A member of the socially dominant and economically affluent Kongu Vellalar neighborhood, he turned the secretary of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit in 1996. He served because the celebration’s president between 2003 and 2006. Within the Tamil Nadu BJP, whereas the late L. Ganesan was the blue-eyed boy of L.Ok. Advani, Mr. Radhakrishnan had a equally shut bond with Vajpayee. An avid sportsman, he’s a table-tennis champion.
The communally polarised Kongu belt, following the Coimbatore bomb blasts, ready the bottom for the emergence of BJP leaders from the Kongu Vellalar neighborhood, often known as Gounders. The Kongu area can be a stronghold of the AIADMK, now an ally of the BJP, which elected extra MLAs from the celebration within the final two Assembly elections within the State. AIADMK chief and former Chief Minister Edappadi Ok. Palaniswami can be a member of the neighborhood.
As the Kongu area is a key focus for the BJP management, it has constantly chosen leaders from the world and rewarded them accordingly. In some ways, Mr. Radhakrishnan is the primary distinguished BJP face from the area. After him got here L. Murugan, hailing from the Scheduled Caste, who turned the BJP’s State president and is now a Union Minister. Ok. Annamalai, an IPS officer-turned-politician, can be a Kongu Vellalar. The celebration’s All India Mahila Morcha chief and MLA Vanathi Srinivasan additionally belongs to the neighborhood.
By nominating Mr. Radhakrishnan because the Vice-Presidential candidate, the BJP seeks to supply the neighborhood a distinguished nationwide presence after a niche of a few years. After Dr. P. Subbarayan, a Congress chief and Union Minister, and C. Subramaniam, who served as Union Minister and Maharashtra Governor, the neighborhood didn’t safe an important place in nationwide politics.
The BJP appointed Mr. Radhakrishnan because the Governor of Jharkhand earlier than transferring him to the Raj Bhavan in Maharashtra. His place as Vice-President is predicted to bolster the BJP’s affect within the Kongu area.
Published – August 24, 2025 01:27 am IST
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