Instead he made a genuine attempt to mend fences with the sitting MP Sumalatha Ambareesh, visiting her  at her residence in Bengaluru to seek her support in the parliamentary election.

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In offering  the olive branch, he was proposing they forget their past and start a new chapter in Mandya politics. In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Janata Dal Secular leaders had hurled all kinds of abuses at Sumalatha who had contested as an independent candidate after being denied a ticket by the Congress Party following the JDS-Congress Coalition government headed by Chief Minister Kumaraswamy. The then CM's son, Nikhil Kumaraswamy had made his political debut, contesting as a United candidate from Mandya. Following the passing away of the noted Kannada actor turned politician, and his father  M.H.Ambareesh who loved Mandya, the massive sympathy wave helped Sumalatha to get elected to Lok Sabha by a big margin. The rest is history.

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A few months ago, before the announcement of the Assembly election, Sumalatha had extended her support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi but not joined the BJP on technical grounds. She had been promised the BJP ticket from Mandya before the JDS struck an alliance with the BJP.  

One of the major demands of the JDS has been for three Lok sabha seats, Mandya, Hassan and Kolar. Though, the BJP National leaders offered other constituencies, Kumaraswamy was hell-bent on the Mandya seat to salvage his own pride. Sumalatha who came to know about this move, directly met Union Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President J.P.Nadda to remind them of the promise made to her. Since the BJP wanted to increase the tally in Karnataka, it offered other constituencies like any one in Bengaluru City or Chikkaballapur which she flatly rejected.

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She went to Delhi several times and returned with the assurance but no firm offer During the last visit, Nadda finally came clean, expressing his inability to give her the ticket for Mandya, but promised the Rajya Sabha seat and an  union minister Post.

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She made public this offer made by Nadda and promised her supporters that she had been promised by the BJP leaders of protecting their interest also.

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She said her final decision would be announced in Mandya on April 3rd. But before that, Kumaraswamy drove straight to Sumalatha 's house to seek her support.

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Kumaraswamy may be a strong Vokkaliga  leader  but he still needs her support to increase the votes.  He exchanged greetings and presented a flower bouquet to her.  Even Abhishek Ambareesh was present when the JDS leader visited the house.

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Sources close to Sumalatha told this reporter that she may abide by the BJP leaders promise, and support the candidature of Kumaraswamy. At any cost she would not contest as an independent candidate or remain neutral in the interest of the political future of hers and Abhishek in the coming days.

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On Saturday, State BJP President B.Y.Vijayendra had prepared the ground for the visit of Kumaraswamy and the meeting went through without any acrimony.

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This can be said as the first victory for Kumaraswamy ahead of the fiercest of  battles yet for the Jds leader.

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