Mandya: Congress party workers in Mandya were seen waving their party flag during the campaign held by BJP-supported candidate Sumalatha. All this, despite warning from Congress's top leaders.

The Congress members have said that they have self respect and they will vote for Sumalatha.

Reacting to the same, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao had warned party members supporting Sumalatha.

Gunu Rao had said that Congress's and BJP's ideologies do not match. It is not right to wave the Congress flags at a BJP-supported candidate's rally. If they still want to support her, they can do so after resigning from Congress membership, he had said.

This enraged Congress members in Mandya, who convened a meeting and discussed future course of action. The members are said to have decided not to mind the warnings of Congress leaders and do what seems right for them.

A discussion in this regard was held at Congress leader Sacchidananda's residence in Indavalu, where it was decided to neglect KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao's warnings.

The Congress party workers have also expressed their disappointment over party's alliance with the JD(S). They also mentioned their dissatisfaction with respect to the seat-sharing arrangement. Even in the last term, Congress had supported JD(S) leader Shivaramegowda. But as Shivaramegowda was from Mandya, they decided to support him.  But this time, supporting a person who is not from Mandya (referring to Nikhil Kumaraswamy) is hurting our self respect, they said. Anyone can contest, but they should be from Mandya, said the party workers taking a dig at the JD(S) candidate.