  We report strong connections between central intensity ratio (CIR) and hot
gas properties of Early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the nearby ($\rm D<30 Mpc$)
Universe. We find new strong correlations between (optical) CIR and X-ray gas
luminosity ($\rm L_{\rm X,GAS}$) as well as X-ray gas temperature ($\rm
T_{GAS}$). These correlations suggest that higher the central gas temperature
lower will be the (central) star formation process in ETGs. Correlations of CIR
separately with K-band magnitude and age of the sample galaxies, further
support suppression of star formation in the central region of ETGs as they
grow in mass and age. The systematic and tight variation of CIR with $\rm
L_{\rm X,GAS}$ not only shows its remarkable potential to estimate $\rm L_{\rm
X,GAS}$ from simple photometry but also helps in transforming the core-coreless
dichotomy into a gradual one.
