Karnataka PWD Minister H D Revanna Friday stoked a controversy, saying multi-lingual film actress Sumalatha, wife of late Congress MP Ambareesh, entered the political fray within months of losing her husband.
Even as the remarks drew flak from BJP, the Minister, son of JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda, later said he did not say she should not contest elections and refused to apologise.
Sumalatha, who has decided to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections from Mandya -- a stronghold of JDS -- said she was hurt and pointed out it was an irony that such a statement had been made on International Womens Day.
Speaking to a private Kannada news channel in Delhi, Revanna said Sumalatha had come to politics ...it is not even a few months since her husband passed away."