Need not resort to backdoor politics, says Sumalatha after Puttaraju links her to IT raids

Mandya: Reacting to the allegations made by Minor Irrigation Minister C.S. Puttaraju, Mandya Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh on Thursday said that she did not need to resort backdoor politics tactics and sought an explanation from Puttaraju for linking her with the Income Tax raids on the houses of Janata Dal (Secular) leaders.

“I have nothing to do with the raids. I would have been happy if I had that much power,” said Sumalatha speaking to media persons here.

Further she mentioned that while making an allegation was fine, the minister needs to prove how she was connected to the raids especially since she did not belong to any political party. Sumalatha also said that the minister was mistaken if he felt he would get sympathy for the JD(S) candidate by citing the raids.

Earlier on Thursday Puttaraju had alleged that Sumalatha had knowledge of the raids as had ‘hinted’ about it while addressing a road-side meeting in Mandya taluk recently. “Such tricks would not work as people of Mandya would definitely vote for the JD(S) candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy,” he said.

Meanwhile chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, while reacting to the income tax raids, claimed that BJP leaders had got the raids done to help the Independent candidate in Mandya, Sumalatha Ambareesh whom they are backing.