sumalatha ambareesh: BJP should retain Mandya seat, it will send message to Old Mysuru region: Sumalatha Ambareesh
“I am very positive because I know the kind of signals I got during my interactions with Modiji (PM) and Naddaji (BJP President) and other top leaders in the high command. They have followed my work and have a favourable opinion about me,” the former South Indian film star told ET.
She came out with flying colours contesting as an independent candidate during the JDS-Congress coalition reign in Karnataka. The BJP threw its weight behind her by not fielding a candidate.
She identified herself with the BJP ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mandya during last year’s assembly polls and campaigned for its candidates.
Sumalatha Ambareesh denied that she ever approached the Congress for a ticket. In fact, it was the other way round, she added. Her husband the late MH Ambareesh, a Kannada superstar and a former union and state minister, was a Congress leader, and his friends urged her to join the Congress.
“I was getting feelers until a week ago,” the MP said, adding that she declined because she thought she wouldn’t fit there. The Congress announced its candidate for Mandya only after it became certain that Sumalatha Ambareesh was not coming. “There were lots of people in Congress who thought I was a better candidate and tried to get me into the party.”The popular star of yesteryears said it was not about her getting the ticket. “It’s about the BJP retaining the seat,” she said, adding that she carried forward the late superstar’s goodwill and legacy. Since the last LS polls, the BJP’s vote share in the district had gone up, and the PM’s popularity has peaked…Wherever I go, Modiji name comes. Mandya never had a strong BJP face, but now we have a good base.”Her desire to contest again and this time as BJP candidate comes amid reports that the JDS has asked for the Mandya seat from the BJP in a seat-sharing deal, and the local MP thinks it was not wise to give up the seat as the BJP had built a base here.
“Last time, I created history by emerging as the first independent woman MP from Karnataka. Now the BJP has a good chance. By retaining Mandya, the BJP will also be sending a message to the entire Old Mysuru region, and it will also influence the constituencies around Mandya,” she said.
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