Sumalatha Ambareesh Set To Join BJP: Actress-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, independent MP from Karnataka’s Mandya, said on Wednesday that she will not contest the next Lok Sabha elections but will join the BJP on April 6 and continue to support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He also mentioned the lack of respect shown to him by the Congress.
Days after failing to get a ticket from the BJP, the independent MP addressed his supporters on Wednesday.
In his emotional speech, Ambareesh thanked his supporters for helping him secure a historic victory over Mandya in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and said that he has decided not to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but will support the BJP, the party that supports him in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He also supported the BJP in the 2023 general elections.
“If the country is doing well, the state is also doing well. And if the state does well, our district will eventually do well. I’m not selfish. When many leaders don’t get tickets, they will leave the party, but Sumalatha Ambareesh will quit the MP seat today and support BJP,” said Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh.
Sumalatha was denied a ticket from Mandya after the BJP-JD(S) alliance decided to field former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy as the NDA candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Sumalatha won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections defeating Nikhil Kumaraswamy, grandson of former prime minister and JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy’s son. Then the BJP supported him to ensure victory.
In an emotional speech, Sumalta also took a dig at Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and asked his supporters not to ask him to contest from the Congress party, a party she does not respect.
“He (DK Sivakumar) said he doesn’t need me in his party. I don’t need anyone either. My husband Ambarish was never hungry for politics and neither was I,” said Sumalta.
He asked the voters of Mandya whether they wanted him to join a party that did not respect his daughter-in-law. His supporters answered “no” unanimously.
Sumalatha’s husband Ambareesh joined the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1994 and left the party in 1996 after the party did not give him a ticket for the state elections. However, they rejoined in 1999 and have voted in five elections since then. Ambareesh served as the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting in the 14th Lok Sabha but resigned as he was upset with the decision of the Cauvery Dispute Tribunal.
After Ambareesh’s death in 2018, Sumalatha Ambareesh fully entered politics.
Although the BJP high command asked him not to take any step that would affect the party in the upcoming elections, his future looks bright and the party will give him more opportunities.
With Sumaltha pulling out of the race, Mandya is likely to see a direct contest between the Congress and the JD(S) as it is a Vokkaliga stronghold and a bastion of both the Congress and the JD(S).
