Congress not to give Mandya seat to Sumalatha, wary of BJP's move

Bengaluru, Feb 26: Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late Congress Minister MH Ambareesh, is unlikely to get Congress ticket in the forthcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Currently, the Mandya Lok Sabha seat is held by LR Shivarame Gowda of Janata Dal (Secular) who defeated BJP candidate in the bypoll held in December 2018.

According to source, " Mandya is held JDS after the bypoll and in 2014 JDS's CS Puttaraju was elected MP against Congress leader Ramya/Divya Spandana. In the coalition arrangement is sitting party MP gets the chance to contest the election. Therefore, the Congress party ruled out Sumalatha's candidacy."

The Congress is also wary of denying the ticket to Sumalatha Ambareesh in the election. Also, Source told OneIndia, "If the Congress denies ticket to Sumalatha, she may fight as an Independent candidate from Mandya with BJP's support. And if wins, BJP will take her on board."

Over the last several days, Congress leaders from Mandya are meeting Sumalatha at her Bengaluru residence and have been requesting her to contest the Lok Sabha poll from Mandya constituency which was once represented by her husband. Ambareesh had served as minister of state for Information and Broadcasting in the 14th Lok Sabha, but resigned over his dissatisfaction with the Cauvery Dispute Tribunal award, though the resignation was not formally accepted.

Sumalatha offered to donate half acre land to the family of CRPF jawan C Guru martyred in the Pulwama attack to build a memorial for Guru.