BENGALURU: Yesteryear actor Sumalatha, who has been making preparations for her electoral foray in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, remains unfazed by the attacks targeted at her. Only on Friday, Public Works minister H D Revanna had made sexist remarks against her. “Every stone hurled makes my house stronger. Not only that, they are adding more floors to the building with each attack. I don’t know why they do not realise this,’’ she said on Saturday.
Ever since Sumalatha made public her intention of contesting from Mandya, the JD(S), which considers the district as its stronghold, had unleashed personal attacks against her. Asked if these had caused her to feel weighed down, she said, “On the contrary, it makes me stronger. It makes my decision to contest firmer.’’
People are voluntarily supporting me: Sumalatha
Asked if she was being deliberately targeted, she said, “I do not know. At a time when people are losing interest in the election narrative of parties, it is time to engage them with plans and programmes and what we have achieved, rather than do this. We forget that the youth are looking to us and they would like to learn from us and be inspired by us.’’
On the viciousness of the attacks, Sumalatha said, “It only reflects their character and their thoughts about women. They are not speaking about me, they are speaking about women.’’Referring to messages of support from well-wishers, she said, “They are Ambareesh’s fans and supporters, they are the people of Mandya.’’
Regarding raising resources for electioneering, she said, “Whenever I have gone to the people, they have voluntarily supported me. When they are emotionally connected, they go all out. Money does not matter, because some spend crores on elections and still lose.’’
Asked about support from BJP, she said, “I have not gone to BJP, but I have seen that many BJP leaders like Shobha Karandlaje, Jagadish Shettar and Suresh Kumar have some out in support of me. I will wait till a formal announcement from the Congress and then take a decision on this.’’