At first glance, the resemblance with popular actress Ramya is startling. Her facial features are near-identical to the Kannada starlet. A closer look, however, reveals that age is catching up with her. Meet Ranjitha Mandya Boraiah, mother of Ramya, who is otherwise known by her real name Divya Spandana.

The lady would probably have turned more tan if she were to campaign for her daughter, if the 20-something actress was given a Congress ticket to contest from here. But Ranjitha has now settled for campaigning for Ambareesh. On Saturday she hit the campaign trail in Srirangapatna Santhe (shandy), distributing party pamphlets, hardselling former chief minister S M Krishna and farmers’ leader G Made Gowda to road-side vendors.
Not the one to shy away from introducing herself as Ramya’s mother, Ranjitha, one of the party observers for the Mandya seat and vice-president of the State Congress’ women’s wing, had kind words for Ambareesh, who she described as a “man of culture.” She has been with the Congress for the last 22 years. “Ambareesh anna was undecided on contesting. So the AICC, including Gulam Nabi Azad, wanted my daughter Ramya to contest. But she is too young to be in politics. Since we were in a dilemma, I called Ambareesh anna. He asked me to wait for his final decision. Eventually, he became the candidate,” she says.

Ranjitha, a native of Mandya, is a BA graduate. She hails from an affluent family and is managing her campaign by spending money from her pocket. “I have been working so hard (for the party and the candidate), but women are hardly not recognised for their perseverance. So far, not a single woman has represented Mandya in the Lok Sabha. We only give lip service 33 per cent reservation for women,” she says pouting her lips, just the way her daughter does on screen.

She sees Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi as her role models and aspires to be another Indira. She merely smiles when confronted with the question whether, like her role model, she would impose emergency on the country. Clearly, she is far from the hardboiled politician she projects herself to be.
Ranjitha is keen Ramya campaigned for her party and Ambareesh.

“Ramya says she would not mind moving around Mandya for a day. But we are yet to finalise the programme,” informs Ranjitha. But if the sultry actress were to campaign she would accompany S M Krishna. Mandyans may lap up every moment of the star-studded campaign, but it might not alter the fortunes of the party’s candidate.
DH News Service