MP Sumalatha Ambareesh meets J P Nadda; speculations rife about pitch for Mandya seat
Bengaluru, Feb 8: Independent Lok Sabha MP and actor Sumalatha Ambareesh on Thursday met BJP national president J P Nadda and party general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh giving rise to speculations about her pitching for a BJP ticket.
The Mandya MP, who defeated JD(S) scion Nikhil Kumaraswamy in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, called on the two BJP leaders in New Delhi, and later posted photographs with them on the social media website X'.
"Today I met BJP National President J P Nadda and BJP National General Secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh informally and discussed about Mandya constituency and Lok Sabha elections. I thank Nadda Ji and Santhosh Ji for giving their precious time and listening to me. Thanks again for your kind words," Sumalatha said in her post.
Sumalatha has been cozying up to the BJP and is aspiring for a ticket from the party, sources close to her said, adding that she has kept her options open in case she is rebuffed.
In a recent interview to a news channel, she had said that some senior Congress leaders were also in touch with her.
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Mandya constituency has become a contentious issue for the BJP, its alliance partner Janata Dal (Secular) and Sumalatha for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, which is about two months away.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Sumalatha disturbed the political equations of the JD(S) and Congress in Mandya after she announced that she would contest the election.
Mandya was traditionally considered as a JD(S) bastion as it is dominated by the Vokkaliga community, which the JD(S) first family of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda belong to.
In the 2019 polls, the JD(S) tried to use the Mandya seat as a political launch pad for Gowda's grandson and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil. However, Sumalatha poured cold water over their plans by defeating him.
The latest speculations of Sumalatha seeking a BJP ticket to contest from Mandya is likely to be a vexatious issue in the 2024 polls for JD(S), which is now an ally of the BJP.
JD(S), which had won all the seven seats in 2018 assembly elections from Mandya district, suffered another serious setback in 2023 when it lost six seats to Congress and its ally.
Despite this, the party is not keen on giving up its stronghold.
With its tally in the state assembly reducing from 37 seats in 2018 to a mere 19 in 2023, the JD(S) joined the NDA in September last year after a meeting between H D Kumaraswamy, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Nadda in New Delhi.
Both parties have said they would fight the coming Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka together.
ಬಿಜೆಪಿ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರಾದ ಶ್ರೀ ಜೆ.ಪಿ ನಡ್ಡಾ ಅವರನ್ನು ಹಾಗೂ ಬಿಜೆಪಿ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ಸಂಘಟನಾ ಪ್ರಧಾನ ಕಾರ್ಯದರ್ಶಿಗಳಾದ ಶ್ರೀ ಬಿ.ಎಲ್. ಸಂತೋಷ್ ಅವರನ್ನು ಅನೌಪಚಾರಿಕವಾಗಿ ಇಂದು ಭೇಟಿ ಭೇಟಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಮಂಡ್ಯ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರ ಹಾಗೂ ಲೋಕಸಭಾ ಚುನಾವಣೆ ಕುರಿತಂತೆ ಚರ್ಚಿಸಲಾಯಿತು.
— Sumalatha Ambareesh 🇮🇳 ಸುಮಲತಾ ಅಂಬರೀಶ್ (@sumalathaA) February 8, 2024
ತಮ್ಮ ಅಮೂಲ್ಯ ಸಮಯವನ್ನು ನೀಡಿ, ನನ್ನ ಮಾತುಗಳನ್ನು ಆಲಿಸಿದ… pic.twitter.com/T4qP7cdyNd
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Among developing states, TN leads with growth of 11.19 per cent, no thanks to BJP: Udhayanidhi
Thanjavur/Pudukottai (PTI): Tamil Nadu currently stands as the number one state among India’s developing regions, boasting a significant growth rate of 11.19 per cent, despite a stark lack of support from the BJP-led union government, Deputy Chief Minister Udhyanidhi Stalin said on Sunday.
"The central administration has failed to provide requested projects or the funds rightfully due to the state. This neglect reached a peak in the last Union Budget, where the name "Tamil Nadu" was entirely absent, with no new projects allocated to the region," Udhayanidhi told the gathered crowd at Peravurani in Thanjavur.
He also accused the central government of "attempting to undermine" the state's cultural identity by re-imposing a 'Three-Language Policy' and pushing Hindi and Sanskrit into the territory.
"While these threats loom, the opposition leader, Edappadi Palaniswami, remains silent. Instead of questioning these injustices, he has formed an alliance with the BJP, effectively facilitating the entry of these policies into Tamil Nadu," the Deputy Chief Minister added.
According to him, the upcoming assembly election presents a critical opportunity for the people to respond to this continuous neglect.
"It is time for the voters to decide whether to support the Tamil Nadu team or a Delhi team that ignores the state’s developmental needs and linguistic heritage," he added.
Earlier, speaking at Viralimalai in Pudukottai, he argued that this election "is a war between the Delhi Team and the Tamil Nadu Team".
"We are the Tamil Nadu Team...we must send Delhi Team back to where they came from with a decisive win," he said.
He urged the electorate to break the "remote control" Delhi uses to try and control Tamil Nadu.
Udhayanidhi attacked the opposition, specifically targeting incumbent MLA and AIADMK candidate C Vijayabaskar by calling him a "drama company actor", who is part of a "slave group" being threatened by the CBI and ED.
The deputy CM listed the infrastructure and welfare achievements of the "Dravidian Model" government, specifically mentioning quality road works worth Rs 25 crore for 30 km and drinking water connections worth Rs 17 crore in the region.
He also claimed that the DMK revived the laptop scheme for college students after the AIADMK abandoned it in 2019.
Looking toward a second term, he promised that the government would increase the women's entitlement amount to Rs 2,000 and build Rs 10 lakh houses under the 'Kalaignar Kanavu Illam' initiative for those without homes.
Invoking his political lineage, he told the local cadre to set a high target, noting that while the party lost the seat by a narrow margin previously, this time DMK must win by a margin of "50,000 votes to drive away the slave group".
