Bengaluru: Defeated Congress legislators of Mandya may deny working for successful Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh in the recent Lok Sabha elections, but the votes secured by her speak otherwise.
Sumalatha routed Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and the JD(S) candidate by a whopping 1,25,876 votes.
Soon after she decided to contest from Mandya, the CM did not bother to take into confidence ex-Congress legislators and depended only on the support of all eight JD(S) MLAs of assembly seats which come under Mandya parliamentary constituency. Kumaraswamy said he did not want to talk to backstabbers and seek their support for his son.
This angered defeated Congress legislators like N Cheluvarayaswamy, P.M. Narendra Swamy, Ramesh Bandisiddegowda and Mr Chandrashekar who extended tacit support to Ms Sumalatha. This support came as a big helping hand since she didn't have any supporters in the eight Assembly constituencies and had to rely on the goodwill of her late husband, M.H. Ambareesh.
The BJP, which was looking to gain a foothold in Vokkaliga dominated Mandya, supported her candidature. Slowly, Congress workers too joined her poll campaigning despite a warning by state leaders.
Though, Mr Kumaraswamy demanded stern action against the former MLAs of the Congress for not actively campaigning for his son Nikhil, the Congress turned a blind eye though it did expel 7 block Congress presidents for their participation in her campaign. Efforts made by former CM Siddaramaiah to make the ex-MLAs work for Nikhil's victory too fell flat.
Sumalatha’s emotion-packed speeches, invoking her late husband's name also turned the election to her advantage.
