Sumalatha Ambareesh has fond memories of Delhi. Her husband, actor-turned-politician Ambareesh, had thrice won from the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka, and was Union minister from 2006 to 2008.
“Every time my husband took oath as MP, and later as Union minister, I was there with him,” she told THE WEEK. “This is the first time I am entering [Parliament] as an MP, and it is a different feeling altogether.”
It was Ambareesh’s death last November that led to Sumalatha’s political entry. The 55-year-old actor said the move was as unplanned as her entry into films. “I celebrated my 16th birthday after I wrapped up my first film,” she said. “I worked in 215 films. For me, plans don’t work; life has chosen my moments.”
Known as the land of sugarcane fields, Mandya witnessed a bitter political battle this time. As an independent candidate, Sumalatha took on Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. “I had sought a Congress ticket as Ambareesh was with the Congress,” Sumalatha said. The party, however, had ceded the seat to Janata Dal (Secular), its partner in the ruling coalition in the state.
When Ambareesh’s followers asked Sumalatha to contest as an independent candidate, she felt a “moral obligation” to say yes. “In Mandya, the JD(S) and the Congress are like India and Pakistan,” she said.
As expected, taunts and insults started pouring in as she prepared to file the nomination. Sumalatha was called an outsider (she was born in a Telugu family, with roots in Chennai and Mumbai), and was criticised for entering politics “just months” after her husband’s death.
The barbs, however, won her support from unexpected quarters. Congress leaders who resented the party conceding the seat to the JD(S), BJP leaders who wanted the chief minister’s son to be defeated, JD(S) workers who were upset with the party foisting the Gowda scion on them, and farmers who were disillusioned with the state government—all came together to back Sumalatha.
But winning Mandya remained a tall order. “My situation reminded me of the earlier India-Australia cricket matches. The Aussies would play mind games that were quite brutal; but India, even when it was an underdog, always fought back,” she said.
Her campaign was run by “the Lagaan team”, a small group that named itself after the famous Bollywood movie about Indian villagers beating the British in a cricket match. “In the Lagaan team, no one had experience in politics,” she said. “What we did was instinctive. We decided that whatever we did had to be right, and that we would not get provoked. [Actor-producer] Rockline Venkatesh played a big role. He has an organised mind, and he managed the campaign meticulously.”
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Two Kannada superstars, Darshan and Yash, also campaigned for her. When she began to make an impact, the rival side made the campaign more vitriolic and misogynistic. She was faulted for not being a Gowda, but she hit back by asking voters: “Who am I? I am the daughter-in-law of Malavalli Hucchegowda, wife of Ambareesh and mother of Abhishek Gowda.”
To counter her growing popularity, the rival side resorted to dirty tricks. “They fielded three Sumalathas, who together secured 22,000 votes,” she said. “They also fielded many independents to confuse voters, as [a long list of candidates] would require more than one EVM.”
The voters, however, gave her a margin of 1.2 lakh votes. The victory, perhaps, was much sweeter than the delicacy for which she first came to love Mandya. “In the early 1980s, Mandya was my favourite pit stop on the way to Mysore for [film] shoots. I loved the honey cake made in one of the bakeries. People still remember that and bring me honey cakes,” she said.
Sumalatha will now try hard to bring a fair share of the development cake to Mandya. For that, she needs to deftly balance her ties with the ruling parties at the Centre and in the state. “I intend to give parties issue-based support,” she said. “I will stand by any decision that benefits Karnataka and Mandya.”
Sumalatha Ambareesh
Age 55
Party: Independent
Constituency: Mandya, Karnataka
Vote share: 51.02%
Education: SSLC