Former legislator's remarks about actress Ramya stirs controversy

MANDYA: Stoking a controversy, a local JD(S) leader today made a personal attack on multi-lingual actress Ramya, who is the Congress candidate for Mandya Lok Sabha seat in the Aug 21 by-poll, inviting strong condemnation for taking the campaign to such a low.

M Srinivas' comments targeting the actress came at a party workers' meeting at Srirangapatna in Mandya district when making a comparison between JD(S) candidate C S Puttaraju and Ramya.

"...she does not know where she hails from.... she does not know the name of her caste," Srinivas said sandwiching a comment about her lineage in between these remarks.

He said Ramya neither knew about the people of Mandya district nor did she belong to it. "...such a woman is the Congress candidate.."

"Disgusting", said State Housing Minister Ambareesh while flaying Srinivas' remarks as "distasteful".

"..one should not speak about a woman in such a manner.." State Congress leader D K Shivakumar said Srinivas' remarks reflected the "culture" of JD(S) and it was an insult to women. Senior JD(S) leaders should respond, he said.

Ramya, who has acted mostly in Kannada films as also in Tamil and Telugu, chose not to respond.

By-polls are being held for Mandya and Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituencies. After getting elected to legislative assembly in May, former Chief Minister H D Kumarswamy had resigned his Bangalore Rural seat, while his party colleague N Cheluvarayaswamy did so from Mandya, causing the by-polls.