Chennai, April 4 ( IANS)
The Virudhunagar Lok Sabha seat where popular South Indian actor, Raadhika Sarathkumar is contesting on a BJP ticket has emerged as one of the four top winnable seats of the party.
Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP is focussing on four seats Coimbatore, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seats.
Raadhika and her husband and top Tamil actor , Sarathkumar merged their All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi with the BJP during the run-up to the elections and Raadhika is now contesting the seat on a BJP ticket.
Sarathkumar was a Member of Parliament (RS) and also a legislator.
BJP has put its stake high in the constituency which is the home constituency of the fireworks industry. The industry is the largest in the country with a volume of Rs 6000 crore and more than one lakh people are employed in the industry directly and indirectly and the industry will have a major say in the elections.
The BJP is focussing on the popularity of Raadhika who has been a top heroine of South Indian movies and does not need an introduction.
In the 2019 general elections, the Congress candidate Manickam Tagore won by a majority of 1,54,554 votes defeating the nearest DMDK rival , R.Alagarasamy.
Raadhika Sarathkumar is facing sitting MP ,Manickam Tagore and V. Vijaya Prabhakaran son of the late Tamil super star , Vijayakanth who is contesting on a DMDK ticket.
The principal opposition party of Tamil Nadu, AIADMK which was part of the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 assembly elections is now not with the BJP.
Zacharias Joseph ,Political analayst based out of Madurai while speaking to Bharathpost said, “ BJP fielding Raadhika Sarathkumar was a master stroke and the party has advanced much due to this move. While DMDK candidate Vijaya Prabhakaran is a new entrant his father late, Tamil super star Vijayakanth is highly popular in the region. Manickam Tagore of the Congress being a sitting MP, Virudhunagar will witness a tough three-cornered fight.“ Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be speaking at a public programme in Virudhunagar constituency on April 14th and the BJP leadership is expecting a huge leap in its fortunes.
