Actress Ramya sweats it out to reclaim Mandya seat

The ride does not appear to be as cosy as it was when she won the by-election for Ramya, said to be in the inner circles in AICC, as she had the full backing of the government and the party then as it was a prestigious battle for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Old Mysore region just months after he took over reins of administration.

Of late, there are reports about differences between her and Ambareesh, with his supporters recently complaining to him about the actress' “arrogant behaviour.”

Ramya's main rival is C S Puttaraju of JDS whom she had defeated with a margin of 67,611 votes in the August bypolls wresting the seat from former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's party which derives its strength from the Vokkaliga belt, including Mandya district.

Mandya Lok Sabha constituency has eight assembly segments and the seat had largely remained a Congress stronghold barring when it lost to Janata Party in 1984, Janata Dal in 1998 and Janata Dal Secular in 2009.

Vokkaliga community has the majority say in the constituency with about 35 per cent of vote share, while there are also considerable voters from OBC, SC/ST and minority community. Sixteen candidates are in the fray.