Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh joined the BJP on April 5 in the presence of former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa, in Bengaluru. Her close aide, film producer and distributor ‘Rockline’ Venkatesh, too joined the BJP.
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The actor-turned-politician won the Mandya seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with support from the BJP. This time, the seat has gone to the JD(S) and the candidate is former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.
Claiming that she was not joining the BJP for securing her own political future, Ms. Sumalatha said, “The future of my district, my State and my country are more important to me than my own political future.” Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ‘a leader who walks the talk’, she said, “The Prime Minister’s leadership and his dream for India’s development are my inspiration.”
Crediting the BJP for the development of Mandya district during her tenure as MP, she launched a veiled criticism on the Congress saying that some leaders were now trying to take the credit for re-opening of Mysore Sugar Company of Mandya, though it was the erstwhile BJP dispensation that took measures in this regard on her request.
State BJP president B. Y. Vijayendra, who inducted Sumalatha Ambareesh into the party, said her entry had bolstered the party organisation. Leaders from other parties, including former Koppal MP and KPCC vice-president S. Shivaramegouda and former cricketer Dodda Ganesh, were the others who joined the BJP.