Bengaluru, April 5 (Reporter) Sumalatha Ambareesh, the Independent MP, from Mandya, formally joined the BJP here on Friday. The move comes after the BJP decided to cede the Mandya seat to its alliance partner, the JDS, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Key BJP leaders including BS Yediyurappa, Vijayendra Yediyurappa, R Ashoka, Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, and DV Sadananda Gowda welcomed Sumalatha into the party at its state headquarters in the city. Sumalatha had earlier sought the BJP ticket for re-election from the Mandya seat, which was previously represented by her late husband, MH Ambareesh. However, the party decided to give the ticket to the JDS, leading Sumalatha to opt out of the elections and join the BJP after consulting her supporters. In the 2019 elections, Sumalatha contested as an independent candidate with BJP support and won the Mandya seat by defeating Nikhil Kumaraswamy of the JDS, who is the son of former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. The election was marked by a bitter rivalry between Sumalatha and the JDS-Congress alliance. Sumalatha's entry into politics in 2019 came after the Congress, to which her late husband belonged, denied her a ticket for the Mandya seat, which was given to the JDS as part of their coalition agreement. MH Ambareesh, a popular figure in Mandya, had served in various political capacities under both Congress and Janata Dal. Sumalatha's victory in 2019 was attributed to a sympathy wave following the death of her husband. She received extensive support from popular Kannada film stars like Darshan Thoogudeepa, Yash (Naveen Kumar Gowda), and her son Abishek Ambareesh during her campaign...////...