‘Question of letting go of Mandya does not arise,’: Sumalatha at Darshan’s silver jubilee celebration

Mandya which was an area of prime interest in the 2019 Lok Sabha election has yet again garnered eyeballs ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. On one hand, the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) has allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in order to protest what was once regarded as their fortress, on another hand however, independent candidate Sumalatha has proclaimed that the question of letting go of Mandya does not arise despite endorsing Narendra Modi of the BJP as a Prime Ministerial candidate. This statement was made in the Srirangapatna town in the Mandya district during the celebration of Sandalwood star Darshan’s silver jubilee in the industry. “We applied a Tilak made of the sand of Mandya to bid farewell to Ambarish. I cannot let go of the debts I owe to the land of Mandya,” she said. 

 This acts as a roadblock for the BJP-JDS alliance that is attempting to make their presence felt in Karnataka after a disappointing performance in the 2023 Vidhan Sabha election. Reports have suggested that of the 28 Lok Sabha seats, 4 would be contested by JD(S) as per the alliance. It is expected that Mandya would be one of those 4 seats. Kumaraswamy was in the forefront in the demonstration against the replacement of a Hanuman flag with an Indian flag in the Keragodu village in Mandya.