Speculation over Mandya LS seat grows, Sumalatha camp stands ground

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Speculation has been growing that JD(S) will snag the opportunity to contest from the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency.

The seat is currently held by BJP-backed independent Sumalatha Ambareesh.

A day prior, JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy told mediapersons that even if an “ordinary worker would contest from Mandya, a JD(S) victory is certain”.

Sumalatha’s camp on the other hand has been adamant on her candidacy from Mandya, starting a campaign named “namma jille, namma hemme” (our district, our pride).

There appear to be no less than three contenders for the JD(S) ticket from the seat namely Kumaraswamy himself, former Mandya MP CS Puttaraju and finally Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Gowda.

Nikhil Kumaraswamy contested on a JD(S) ticket from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat back in 2019.

However, despite being in a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, he lost by a huge margin of more than 1,25,000 votes.

Since then, Nikhil has lost from the Ramanagara Assembly seat as well and his father has announced that he will be taking a break from electoral politics.

There is a possibility that Sumalatha might be asked to contest from Bengaluru North, candidacy for which would be open since sitting MP Sadananda Gowda has announced retirement from electoral politics.

However, BJP’s Hindutva poster boy CT Ravi is also angling for a ticket from Bengaluru North. BJP holds 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies, leaving Congress and JD(S) with a seat a piece.

The remaining seat is held by Sumalatha, making seat sharing between JD(S) and BJP a tough prospect.