Karnataka elections: Will Congress give ticket to actress-turned-politician Ramya?

In a recent interview, Ramya stated that electoral politics was not her "cup of tea".

Bengaluru, April 6: In politics, it is her involvement as the head of social media communications wing of the Congress that actress-turned-politician Ramya got national fame and recognition. Before that, she was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) from Karnataka's Mandya constituency during the 2013 bypolls. However, a year later, during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when she again contested polls from Mandya constituency she lost it.

Nonetheless, these days, Ramya, 35, is known as the person who changed the image of her party president Rahul Gandhi, at least on social media. As Karnataka is gearing up for elections, rumours say that the Congress might once again field Ramya as a candidate from her home constituency Mandya.

However, she denied such reports saying she is not interested in contesting elections and would rather concentrate on her work as the head of the Congress' social media communications cell.

Ramya, who had quit acting in 2013, told News18 that she was not contesting in this election. Recently, her mother Ranjitha created a furore after she threatened to contest as an independent candidate if the Congress does not give her ticket. In a recent interview with Bangalore Times, Ramya stated that electoral politics was not her "cup of tea".

"To be honest, electoral politics is really not my cup of tea. It is not something that I enjoy. People who contest are in it to do a tremendous job. I believe that if you want to make a change and be that catalyst, electoral politics doesn't have to be the only way to do it," she told Bangalore Times.

"There are other ways of effecting change. I am happy being on social media and I enjoy working in the organisation, as I believe in the ideology of the party. A lot of people want to get into electoral politics, but not many want to do organisational work. I'm happy doing that without a fancy designation or position in the party," Bangalore Times further quoted Ramya.

Recently, the EC announced the polling and counting dates for Karnataka. While the polling for the 224-member Legislative Assembly will take place on May 12, the counting of votes will be held on May 15 in the southern state.