Mandya: Another JDS leader has created a new controversy in Mandya. With the idea of consolidating the Vokkaliga votes in support of the JDS-Congress alliance candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy, incumbent MP L R Shivarame Gowda stated that Sumalatha is not a Vokkaliga woman, but of the Naidu caste.
Addressing a JDS campaign in Mallanahalli near Nagamangala, the party leader stated that Sumalatha is not a ‘Mandya Goudti’. “Instead, she is a Naidu. She is the daughter-in-law of Huchche Gowda,” he said.
As the video clipping of his speech went viral on social media, JDS leaders tried to control the damage by stating that it was not aimed at insulting the women.
The Mandya Lok Sabha constituency will be the battle ground for independent candidate Sumalatha, wife of late former minister Ambareesh, and Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and MLA Anita Kumaraswamy.
