Stars from Kollywood and Tollywood say will campaign for 'Sumalatha Ambareesh'

Bengaluru: In a significant move which could boost the chances of  Sumalatha Ambareesh contesting from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat, several leading stars from Kollywood and Tollywood have reportedly extended their support to her.

Sumalatha, wife of former minister and actor-politician late Ambarish is being encouraged by Congress leaders to contest the polls from Mandya, represented by her husband for two terms.

Sources told Deccan Chronicle that Telugu mega stars Chiranjeevi and Mohan Babu, Tamil thespian Rajanikanth and leading Tamil actor Kamal Haasan have conveyed their willingness to campaign for her.  Sumalatha  has acted in several movies in Tamil and Telugu because of which she enjoys a good rapport with all leading stars.     

Leading stars from Kollywood and Tollywood are extending their full support to Ms Sumalatha Ambarish, wife of former minister late M.H. Ambarish,  who is being encouraged by Mandya Congress leaders to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls from Mandya- represented by her husband for two terms.

Besides,  she belongs to Andhra Pradesh and knew most of the veteran actors and actresses.

Her links with Kollywood and Tollywood became strong since Ambarish had acted with  Rajanikanth, Kamal Haasan and Chiranjeevi in movies. In fact, Rajanikanth was amused to see the popularity of  Ambarish when he attended the 60th birthday celebrations of the ‘Mandyada Gandu’ held in Mandya a few years ago. Before this too,  the Tamil Talaivar used to visit Ambarish's house during his visits to Bengaluru and had food with the family.

Leading stars from the Tamil and Telugu film fields had arrived in Bengaluru to pay their last respects to late Ambarish in November last year. It was learnt that Ms Sumalatha was consulting her well-wishers to know their opinion on taking the plunge into politics through the Mandya seat. Chiranjeevi is learnt to have called and congratulated her for making her mind to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls.

The sources said this unprecedented support from Kollywood and Tollywood for Ms Sumalatha has prompted the JD  (S) to reconsider its decision to field Mr Nikhil Kumaraswamy from Mandya.

The Congress is however yet to take a final decision on fielding Ms Sumalatha from Mandya. On Tuesday,  Home Minister M.B. Patil had said in Hubballi that his party did not have any objection if she agrees to contest from Mandya. This shows that the Congress would like to retain the Mandya seat for itself.