Mandya MP Sumalatha may embrace BJP during Deepavali

Shyam Sundar Vattam|NT

Bengaluru

Mandya Lok Sabha member, Sumalatha Ambareesh is likely to join the BJP in October at a mega event to be held in the the district known as the ‘sugar bowl’ of South Karnataka which is expected to be attended by several national leaders.

 With this move, the saffron party is planning to make inroads into south Karnataka in general and Mandya district in particular, that is currently controlled by the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular).

The BJP has been able to win only the KR Pet seat in a by-election following the resignation of JD(S) MLA, C.Narayanagowda who later joined the saffron party and contested on the lotus symbol. Former CM, B.S.Yediyurappa was born and brought up in Bhookanakere village in K.R.Pet taluk but has not been able to make any impact on the electorate of this district which is dominated by Vokkaligas.

Sumalatha, wife of actor cum politician, late M.H.Ambareesh, had created history by becoming the first candidate to win this seat as an independent candidate in 2019 against Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of former CM H.D.Kumaraswamy.

The BJP did not field a candidate but extended full support to her in order to prevent a division of votes. For the past three years, she has maintained a safe distance from both the Congress and BJP aware of the fact that people of Mandya had backed her as the widow of Ambareesh who was born in a village in Maddur taluk.

The BJP leaders know that fans of her late husband will support her thanks to her action against illegal stone quarrying units allegedly owned by supporters of JD(S) and for highlighting problems of her constituency effectively in the Lok Sabha.

She is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah who have reportedly convinced her to join the BJP. Meanwhile, her close confident, Sachidananda, has shown interest to contest from Srirangapatna