For late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Coimbatore district always had a special place in her heart and political calculations. For, no other place as Coimbatore gave her so many MLAs. After her humiliating defeat in the 1996 Assembly election, Jayalalithaa won the 2001 election.
Her party candidates’ victory in eight of the 10 seats in the district played an important role. In the 2006 election that she lost, her party candidates won six of the 10 seats. Her allies too won. In 2011 elections, it was as good as a clean sweep, as her party candidates won eight of the 10 seats and the allies the rest.
The year 2016 was no different for Jayalalithaa. Her party candidates won nine of the 10 seats.
In the last 20 years, Coimbatore had been an AIADMK bastion and that had largely to do with the women voter base. Analysis, if any available, of gender-wise votes polled by candidates in Coimbatore would clearly reveal that women had always sided with the party, said a leader.
The reasons were two - one that women had a natural affinity towards Jayalalithaa and, two, the party cadre ensured that all schemes reached the people, particularly women. This drew them towards AIADMK.
Another party leader said that taking the schemes to the people and building up the party’s image was an important duty for ministers and MLAs elected from the district and that resulted in Coimbatore region becoming a bastion for the AIADMK.
Now with their beloved leader no more, party cadre wondered how the void would be filled.
