Even though Congress has left the Mandya seat for the Janata Dal (Secular), Congress workers there are not ready to support the JD(S). Instead, they are favouring Ambareesh's wife Sumalatha's candidature.
Mandya: If we seek votes for the JD(S), Congress members will chase us and beat us up, said an aid of Cheluvarayaswamy, Nagamangala Block Congress president Prasanna.
"We will get beaten up if we seek votes for Nikhil Kumaraswamy or any other candidate from the JD(S). They are threatening us of dire action if we do that for any other party. They are not bothered by even the party high command's warning. So, we are not in a position to do what we want," said Prasanna.
The Congress member also added that one cannot play politics without the support of local party members. Party workers are not listening to anyone. "According to rules, we have to agree to whatever the high command says. But in this case in Mandya, people will laugh at us if we seek votes for the JD(S) candidate," he said.
Prasanna also said that in this scenario, Congress members have joined hands with Ambareesh's fans, who are supporting the late actor's wife Sumalatha's candidature. "We are managing by saying that JD(S) will eventually give the ticket to Sumalatha. Even JD(S) has had good relations with Ambareesh, who until his death on November 24 last year, was a Congress MP.
JD(S) had given the C form to the candidates in Kunigal and Maddur constituencies in the last Lok Sabha election. Thus, the Congress members have been told that JD(S) might change its mind and give the C form to Sumalatha.
According to the agreement, Congress has left six seats out of 28 to the JD(S), including Mandya. JD(S) is keen on fielding chief minister HD Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Gowda from Mandya. Meanwhile, former Congress leader Ambareesh's wife also wants to contest and Congress members from Mandya are in favour of Sumalatha, while they are not ready to support Nikhil.
Meanwhile, trouble shooter of the Congress, DK Shivakumar, went to Mandya to convince the party leaders there to extend support to the JD(S). But most of the leaders skipped the meeting and they launched a campaign saying 'Go Back Dk Shivakumar', making it clear that Congress workers in Mandya are not ready to support the JD(S) candidate.
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