[1]Mandya: With tears rolling down her cheeks and with folded hands, she greeted voters in Mandya but at the end of the first day of campaign on Monday, Congress candidate Ramya broke her silence, making an emotional appeal that she was contesting the Lok Sabha bypoll to fulfill the wish of her foster father R.T. Narayan.
“I want to fulfill my father’s wish. I will repay the people for their gratitude,” she said at the end of her six-hour road show.
After offering pooja at Kalikamba temple in Mandya and paying tributes to the late Narayan, Ramya criss-crossed all the 34 wards in Mandya along with district in-charge minister Ambareesh and president of the state unit of women's wing, Manjula Naidu, in an open vehicle. Her trademark smile was missing. She did not make a single political statement throughout the day.
On her behalf, Ambareesh spoke about programmes launched by the Congress government, in particular distribution of rice at Rs1 a kg for the poor and waiver of loans of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. “If you elect Ramya, the Congress will ensure overall development of Mandya district,” he added.
Speaking to DC later, Ambareesh said Ramya was yet to recover from grief following the demise Narayan minutes after she filed nomination papers on August 3, and was hurt by comments of former JD (S) MLA M Srinivas.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/ramya1jpg-020