While the ground-level election campaign is yet to gain momentum in most areas of the city, the BJP’s candidate for Coimbatore South, Vanathi Srinivasan, started off a month back.

And she is not just knocking on doors seeking support but planning events like “Coffee with Vanathi” with youngsters. The intent is to put a face to her name.

“The media has been the greatest support. Today, people recognise me. The ice is broken,” said Srinivasan between quick bites of lunch at the party office on Vivekananda Road. Asserting that she is as much a Coimbatorean as anyone else, she recalled her student days in a city college with pride and the protests that she had led during those formative years.

“I’d burnt the Kashmiri national flag and it was featured in one of the dailies,” she said, adding: “I am hunting for the copy; not able to lay my hands on it yet.”

What are her plans if she wins?

“There are a host of civic issues that need to be addressed. As soon as the party high command announced my candidature, we formed a think-tank to discuss the issues. I launched a web portal and through it got over 1,000 ideas from the public.”

“Coimbatore is an industrial city and a very important one, next to Chennai. Notwithstanding issues such as lack of basic infrastructure, poor road maintenance and traffic congestion, the city needs skill development centres for youth.

“I will focus on making Modi’s skill development schemes more effective at all levels so people here can be placed in industries in and around this belt. This would go a long way in reducing the unemployment numbers,” she said

Empowerment of women and closing down of liquor shops are other important issues that need to be attended to immediately, she added.

“A development-oriented transformation has to take place to make the city “smart” in every way and not just in name,” she said before rushing off to meet visitors.

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