The film star had contested as an independent candidate and romped home with a huge margin of 1.25 lakh votes in the 2019 parliamentary polls.

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But with the first list cleared by the Congress Party naming Chandrashekar Gowda aka Star Chandru for the Mandya seat, to everyone's surprise, Sumalatha's plans of approaching the Congress Party in case she was denied a ticket to contest from Mandya by the Bharatiya Janata Party with which she had identified for the last one year, were shot to pieces.

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 In the previous 2019 Lok Sabha polls, she had literally pleaded with the Congress for a ticket from Mandya and approached all the key leaders including Siddaramaiah and D.K.Shivakumar but her plea fell on deaf ears since the party had committed to give that seat to Janata Dal (Secular) because of the then Congress - JDS coalition government. Angry and upset because the party didn't take into consideration the contribution of her late husband and former MP and union minister M.H.Ambareesh for over two decades, she decided to stand as an independent.

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It paid off. Her campaign when she walked on the rough roads, travelling in open autorickshaws, flanked by two popular actors, Yash and Darshan, for nearly two weeks, invoking emotions of the Mandya people about her husband's love for the district till his last breath, made a huge impact. Her emotional plea saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi issuing a call to support her, as the BJP, which  had not fielded it's own candidate had nothing to lose. And she walked home with the big prize!

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This time, things are different. In the changed political scenario after the poll alliance between the BJP and the JDS, Sumalatha's chances of getting a BJP ticket hang in the balance with the JDS reportedly seeking three to four seats including Mandya in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Before the poll pact, as the sitting MP, she had been confident of getting the BJP ticket as the party didn't have a strong and suitable candidate. Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President J.P.Nadda had promised her the Mandya ticket.

Now the BJP leaders are in a quandary as their alliance partner JDS is insisting on the Mandya seat, which they had already promised Sumalatha. After the alliance, the JDS had offered her any seat in Bengaluru other than Mandya. She turned that down.

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Till date, sources close to Sumalatha say she remains confident that she will get the Mandya seat thanks to her connection with the Modi- Shah duo. Except, its now a bone of contention between the two new allies.

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Sumalatha was offered the Bengaluru Rural seat to which she gave a thumbs down, as she considers Mandya her 'Karma Bhoomi'. Her husband had a lot of dreams for Mandya district which she wants to fulfill one by one, she says..

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The BJP is reported to be considering the option of offering another seat to the JDS in place of Mandya as it sees Mandya as the key to make inroads into the Vokkaliga stronghold.

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Claiming to be the 'daughter' of Mandya - Mandyada Magulu - though she hails from Andhra Pradesh, her marriage to Ambareesh, making Bengaluru her home, embracing Kannada culture and language, which she speaks fluently, gives her people-connect an emotional edge that few can match. Her emotional speech invoking her connection with the Mandya district thanks to her marriage with Ambareesh, helped her win the election easily in 2019.  With a BJP ticket looking increasingly unlikely, will she able to do it again ,is the question. Once more, an independent.