Vidhya Veerappan

Vidhya Rani, a.k.a. Vidhya Veerappan, was born on October 30, 1990, in Salem, Tamil Nadu, and her given name was Vijayalakshmi; she is popularly known as Vidhya Veerappan, which she acquired after her father, a notorious forest brigand Koose Munisamy Veerappan, who operated in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka until 2004.

Vidhya, who is a law graduate and has a five-year law course in Bangalore, has been associated with different social service activities, like starting a school for kids in Krishnagiri. Her initial public persona was linked to the community service and the advocacy of children and rural welfare in hilly regions.

Vidhya took up formal politics in 2020 when she became a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and then became the vice president of the Tamil Nadu youth wing (BJYM) at the state level, which was through the party's effort to attract younger and varied groups.

In 2024, after parting ways with the BJP, Vidhya Rani came to the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), a Tamil nationalist party, and she was nominated as its candidate for the Krishnagiri Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections, with a view to addressing local issues like farmer benefits, infrastructure, and tribal rights.

Apart from politics, she has acquired the reputation of being an advocate of education and basic needs for the less privileged people living in hilly and tribal regions of Krishnagiri, thus making use of her legal education and community involvement.