Star Candidate: Sennimalai Jothimani/CONGRESS

KARUR: A first-time MP hailing from a family of farmers, Sennimalai Jothimani is one the young guns of the state Congress seeking re-election from her native Karur, a largely rural Parliamentary constituency dominated by farmers and weavers.

Known for her closeness with the influential Gandhis during her nearly two-decade long career in the Congress party, Jothimani shot to fame during the 2011 Assembly poll as one of the 10 candidates representing the Rahul brigade of the grand old national party which contested in 63 Assembly seats in the company of the DMK then. Ironically, the same V Senthilbalaji, who defeated her in the 2011 Assembly poll, turned out to be her chief poll strategist in the 2019 Parliamentary polls.

She donned the hat of the giant slayer in 2019 after trouncing AIADMK warhorse Thambidurai by a whopping margin of 4.20 lakh, compensating for the loss she suffered at the hands of the same AIADMK candidate in Karur five years prior.

A farmer and poet armed with an M Phil in Tamil literature, debutante Parliamentarian Jothimani earned her place as a member in Parliamentary committees on Welfare of OBCs and Standing Committee on Industry.

A vocal critic of the Hindutva ideology of the BJP within and outside the Parliament, Jothimani, like many of her party peers, enriched her influence in the party by walking the length of the country with Rahul in both editions of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Such was her influence among the Gandhis that a resolute DMK eventually yielded to Congress pressure and gave up the Karur Parliamentary seat to the Congress or rather her. In the absence of Senthilbalaji’s electioneering prowess, a hard working 49-year-old Jothimani’s endurance would be put to test in the four-cornered contest.