MANGALARU/MANDYA: A day after former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda declared that the party is likely to field his grandson Nikhil Kumarswamy from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat, Nikhil confirmed his candidature during a Shivaratri visit to Sri Manjunatha Swamy Temple in Dharmasthala on Monday.Sumalatha appeared to be unfazed by the announcement. Addressing Congress workers and supporters in Mandya, Sumalatha said she could contest from the constituency as an independent. She said she would announce a decision to this effect in three days. "JD(S) national president Deve Gowda has officially announced that the JD(S) would give me the ticket because he trusts that I can fulfil any responsibility that the party gives me," Nikhil said in Dharmasthala. "I will strive till my last breath to fulfil all my responsibilities towards Mandya district. I have to contest when party chief insists that I do."Nikhil, 28, who starred in two Kannada movies, declined to comment on Sumalatha being a strong contender for a Congress ticket from Mandya. "I don't want to react on the subject in any manner," he said.Asked about the purpose of his visit to Dharmasthala ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Nikhil said: "As an ardent devotee of Eshwara, I have visited this temple every year. Eshwara is also our family deity and I feel lost if I don't pay a visit at least once a year."In Mandya, Sumalatha, the wife of late actor-politician MH Ambareesh , said she had not been in touch with any party apart from the Congress, but added: "I am thinking about contesting the polls as an independent candidate. I am 100% determined to contest from Mandya."Hinting that she is ready to face her biggest challenge in public life by taking on the Gowda family, Sumalatha told her audience that she needed their support. "I need your blessings and support," she said. "Please give me the will to take on my biggest political challenge."Sumalatha said she had in the past three months been offered both a ministerial berth and nomination as an MLC. "I did not have slightest intention of entering politics four months ago," she said. "If I did, I would have accepted such plum offers. I have decided to enter politics because of pressure from Ambareesh's fans."

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