Coimbatore: BJP’s K Annamalai in focus as foundries, component units want MP with clout at the centre

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In Coimbatore’s Kalapatti neighbourhood, there’s anticipation in the air, as BJP supporters wait for their candidate to arrive. Annamalai Kuppusamy is not only the BJP’s Tamil Nadu President, he is also widely recognised as an important part of the party’s future leadership. For now, he is also the BJP’s candidate from Coimbatore — a recent stronghold after the saffron party won an assembly seat here, in 2021.

Annamalai’s focus, should he win, in his words will be to “bring back some of Coimbatore’s lost mojo”. He is referring to the town’s industrial hub, making references to automating foundries and skilling workforce at multiple component plants, here.

“Most of the labour here is from North India and slowly they are trying to move out,” Annamalai tells CNBC-TV18, in an exclusive chat on the campaign trail, “Once states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar start picking up manufacturing, they (labour) will move out — so, we have to automate the foundry.”

He adds: “We also want to create an automobile cluster; though you have automobile component manufacturers here and there, there is no cluster approach (to manufacturing activity) for them — we want to do that.”

This need to repair Coimbatore’s industry is not lost on any party. The DMK, AIADMK and BJP are all talking about economic revival. The three-cornered electoral face-off has moved from open ground into the town’s foundries and component-making units. In most campaign speeches, candidates across the political spectrum have laid emphasis on industry, growth, skilling and jobs.

These promises couldn’t come at a more opportune time. MSME units in the town say their workforce is in desperate need of re-skilling. “In China, there are 60 training institutes for foundries alone,” said R Saravanan, Managing Director at Sandfits Foundries, “In India, there isn’t even one. So, Coimbatore’s foundries are planning (to set up) an institute, and we are expecting support from the new government at the Centre.”

While raw material inflation has hit component-makers, several foundries say the Centre’s recently updated list of quality-control orders (QCOs) meant to keep a check on sub-standard imports, is hurting local production. “We recently received a QCO which mandates fasteners — nuts and screws — to have mandatory ISI markings,” said Vignesh Damodharaswamy, Director at Ellen Industries. “This applies to cast iron products and cast aluminum,” he added, “We think the QCO should cover finished products and not raw material products.”

Several industrialists in Coimbatore believe that electing an MP who is likely to secure a ministerial berth at the Centre — this is provided the BJP wins — will automatically mean advantage Coimbatore. Thus, it would be fair to say there is a great deal of local corporate for Annamalai.

“To be very fair, Annamalai, if elected — and if the Centre has a BJP Government — will really help Coimbatore,” said T Rajkumar, Director at the Sakthi Group of Companies. “It will be good to have a strong candidate who can take the interests of the MSME community and make our voices heard at the national level,” Vignesh added.

Skilling challenges and QCO regulations aside, Coimbatore Inc also wants the new government to attract big-ticket investments from a major OEM, to give MSMEs a boost. The textile industry wants a PLI scheme of its own that it has been waiting on for several months, now.

Back on the poll turf, 36-year-old IIM-A alumnus Singai Ramachandran is a first-time candidate contesting on an AIADMK ticket. While industry is his focus too, Ramachandran claims lofty promises don’t count for much if basics like escalating power prices are not kept in check. “All these industries are suffering because of the EB price-hike pushed from the DMK’s side,” he said, “Primarily, we should make sure that native businesses survive — because you can’t go ask a mill or a lathe workshop employee, or a person who is working in a foundry to go do coding.”

The battle for Coimbatore has hit fever pitch, and every candidate knows the industry-centric vote bank holds the key to the constituency. For context: in the 2019 elections, the CPI(M) won this constituency, but the party has chosen to led its more industry-friendly ally in the DMK field a candidate this time, even as Annamalai wants to bring Coimbatore back for the BJP after a 20-year gap.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow