LS election 2019: Mandya leaders skip DKS meeting

BENGALURU: The meeting of Mandya district Congress leaders convened by water resources minister DK Shivakumar on Sunday to convince them not to support late actor MH Ambareesh’s wife Sumalatha in the election failed as many prominent leaders did not turn up.
The high command had tasked Shivakumar to convince the district leaders about the political compulsions to support the JD(S) candidate in Mandya. Barring Mandya district Congress president MS Atmanand, Ambareesh’s one-time supporter Amaravathi Chandrashekhar and a few others, no leaders attended the meeting.Former MLAs N Cheluvarayaswamy, M Narendra Swamy, Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda, Ganiga Ravi and KB Chandrashekhar were conspicuous by their absence.
The Mandya Congress is divided over supporting the JD(S) which will get the seat as per the seat-sharing formula between the two. Many Congress leaders have openly announced their support to Sumalatha who has already declared that she would remain in the fray as an independent if the Congress failed to give her ticket.
However, Shivakumar told the reporters that none from the party asked him to speak to Mandya leaders. “I am not a big leader of the party. I wanted to interact with Mandya leaders who stood beside me in my troubled times,” he claimed.
He also condemned PWD minister HD Revanna’s statement on Sumalatha. “We should respect women. Sumalatha has her own standing in society,” he said, adding that he had already spoken to Sumalatha and conveyed the party’s opinion on her decision to contest the election.