DKS drops bombshell! Cong will give Mandya seat to JD(S), not to Sumalatha Ambareesh

Bengaluru: Even as Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late former minister M.H. Ambareesh is planning to take a house on rent in Mandya to get connected with the local electorate, Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar has dropped a bombshell saying that she would be convinced against contesting from Mandya as it has been decided already to give this seat to JD(S).

This statement is likely to disappoint Ms Sumalatha who has evinced keen interest to contest from Mandya Lok Sabha constituency either on a Congress ticket or as an independent candidate following pressure from friends and well-wishers of her late husband.

Last week, she visited Mandya along with her son and had expressed her desire to contest to fulfill the promises made by her husband. In fact, there had been pressure from a section of Congress leaders to declare her as the party candidate as a token of gratitude to Mr Ambareesh who had represented this constituency twice and also strengthened the Congress base in Mandya district.

Even former minister A Manju of Hassan too had demanded that his party bosses  give the ticket to Ms Sumalatha so as to bag this seat easily. He said  the sympathy wave in favour of   Ambareesh would help the Congress  win Mandya seat with ease. Last week, she met former CM  Siddaramaiah seeking his support to contest from Mandya and had requested him to impress upon the party high command to consider her.

On Monday, Mr Shivakumar hinted that it was almost certain that the Mandya seat would be given to the JD(S) because of which Ms Sumalatha had to shelve her plans of contesting from this seat. It was true that there was pressure on her from some Congress workers to contest. But as it had already been decided to give this seat to the JD(S) she would be convinced against contesting. "She is free to enter politics and there are lot of opportunities. We all will extend full co-operation to her. But, it is good if she drops her idea of contesting from Mandya".

Already, both Congress and JD(S) had waged a war in social media over Ms Sumalatha contesting from Mandya. While  JD(S) ministers   C.S. Puttaraju and D.C. Thammanna were batting for fielding Nikhil Kumaraswamy from Mandya, minister M B Patil (Congress) had stated that Ms Sumalatha would win if she contests from Mandya. This had become a bone of contention between the coalition partners.