The wife of popular film star MH Ambareesh, Sumalatha had earlier staked a claim for a BJP ticket for re-election from the Mandya seat.
Published Apr 05, 2024 | 1:36 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 05, 2024 | 1:36 PM
BJP leaders welcoming Sumalatha to the party. (Screengrab)
Actor-turned-politician and independent MP from Mandya in Karnataka Sumalatha Ambareesh joined the BJP on Friday, 5 April.
Veteran BJP leader BS Yediyurappa, state president BY Vijayendra, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly R Ashoka, national general secretary in-charge of elections in Karnataka Radha Mohan Das Agarwal and former chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda were among those who welcomed the 60-year-old into the party fold at its state headquarters in Bengaluru.
With BJP ceding the Mandya seat to its alliance partner JD(S) in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Sumalatha, after consulting her supporters and well-wishers in Mandya, on Wednesday announced her decision to opt out of the elections and join the BJP.
The wife of popular film star MH Ambareesh, Sumalatha had earlier staked a claim for a BJP ticket for re-election from the Mandya seat that her late husband represented in the past. But the party convinced her and gave it to JD(S).
JD(S) state president and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy is now the alliance’s joint candidate from Mandya.
Kumaraswamy on Sunday met Sumalatha and sought her cooperation in the polls.
As an independent candidate, Sumalatha won the seat in 2019 by defeating the then chief minister Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy of JD(S), by a margin of 1,25,876 votes, with BJP’s support.
It was a bitterly fought election. The JD(S) was in an alliance with the Congress at the time.
Sumalatha entered politics in 2019 and plunged into the poll arena as an independent, after the Congress, of which her late husband was a part, denied her the ticket, as the party had ceded the Mandya seat to its then-alliance partner JD(S). Both parties were then running a coalition government under Kumaraswamy’s chief ministership.
Late Ambareesh had served as MP, MLA and Minister in Karnataka and at the Centre in the Congress governments. He was also part of Janata Dal in the past
In the 2019 polls, Sumalatha rode on a sympathy wave following the death of her husband, who was an icon of sorts in Mandya district.
Popular Kannada film stars like Darshan Thoogudeepa and Yash (Naveen Kumar Gowda), along with her son Abishek Ambareesh had extensively campaigned for her.
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