Chennai, Mar 12 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, MK Stalin-led DMK, which is heading the INDIA bloc in the state, has got the CPI-M to part with the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat.

A senior leader of the DMK told IANS on condition of anonymity, that the party was apprehensive of a BJP victory from the Coimbatore seat if a CPI-M candidate contested from there.

The DMK is expecting the BJP to field a heavyweight candidate from the seat as it has a strong base there.

The BJP will either field its state President, K Annamalai or sitting MLA, Vanathi Srinivasan, from the crucial seat.

According to the senior leader, the DMK did not want the BJP to win the seat like it won the Coimbatore South Assembly seat in the 2021 elections.

In 2021 Vanathi Srinivasan won the seat, defeating Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) leader and Tamil superstar Kamal Haasan by a slender margin of 1,728 votes. While the actor polled 51,481 votes, Vanathi Srinivasan garnered 53,209 votes.

Interestingly, the Congress’ Working President, Mayura Jayakumar received 41,426 votes.

The DMK, according to the senior leader, does not want a split in the votes of the INDIA bloc and wants to field a strong candidate.

The party considers Coimbatore a prestigious seat and wanted Kamal Haasan to contest but the CPI-M did not relent.

This has led to the DMK directly taking over the seat by convincing the CPI-M leadership and now it will field a strong leader from Coimbatore.