Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of actor-turned-politician, late M.H.Ambareesh, made history by winning Mandya as an independent candidate. So  far, except the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), no independent candidate has won from this politically high-voltage constituency of Mandya,  the sugar bowl of South Karnataka.

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Everyone was in shock when Sumalatha, single-handedly took on Nikhil Kumaraswamy,  son of Chief Minister H.D.Kumaraswamy, the unanimous candidate of the Congress-JDS coalition government, and defeated him by more than 1.25 lakh votes.

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Since then she has come to be known by the moniker  ‘giant killer’ as she defeated the grandson of a former prime minister and son of the incumbent chief minister  that too in the Vokkaliga heartland. Since she was  fighting the poll battle alone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had extended the party’s support to her and appealed to voters to back Sumalatha.

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That appeal may have made an impact. More importantly, the death of Ambareesh, a few months before the parliamentary polls created a sympathy wave across the district as the actor hailed from a village in Maddur taluk of Mandya  district and was known as ‘Mandyada Gandu’, Mandya's son.

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In a sign of where her loyalties lay,  a few days before the 2023 Assembly polls, Sumalatha extended her full support to the BJP and PM Modi. By that  time, she had been hobnobbing with the BJP leaders and had met PM Modi during the election rally, at the inauguration of Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway and in the corridors of Lok Sabha.

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However, she has still not formally joined the BJP, although she does  support the BJP from the outside.

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After the BJP-JDS tie-up in Karnataka for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls, JDS leaders are demanding five seats including Mandya for their candidates. But, Sumalatha, insisting that Mandya is her ‘Karma Bhoomi’, is bent on keeping the seat at any cost. She had met Modi, Union Home Minister Amit  Shah and BJP National President J.P.Nadda to stake claim over the Mandya seat.

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It is learnt  that the BJP leaders have responded positively and promised her a favorable decision after  discussing the issue with the JDS supremo H.D.Deve Gowda.

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The doors to the Congress are closed,  because of stiff opposition to her entry into the party from Congress leaders. Her induction into the Congress was stopped by Mandya Congress leaders in 2019.

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The BJP is much more supportive. While other BJP candidates  are unsure of getting tickets  to contest the parliamentary polls, Sumalatha exudes confidence. “I have already told the BJP leaders that I will contest only from Mandya  and not any other seat”, she said, alluding to speculation she was being offered Bangalore South.

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This has put JDS leaders  in a quandary as they were banking on getting this seat so that Nikhil could try his luck for the second  time. Going by the present situation, it looks like  Sumalatha may have  the last laugh, thanks to her proximity to the PM