I achieved stardom from negative publicity: Mahila Empowerment Party Candidate Jayalakshmi

Jayalakshmi, the government hospital nurse who came to limelight with her steamy picture of an alleged kiss with former minister Renukacharya speaks about her rise to stardom

Jayalakshmi, the government hospital nurse who came to limelight with her steamy picture of a kiss with former minister Renukacharya speaks about her rise to stardom. The Kannada big boss contender and teleserial artist has made her entry into politics, choosing Mahila Empowerment Party and will face Congress stalwart Ramalinga Reddy in BTM Layout constituency.

When first asked about why she chose MEP, she said that she believed in the party founder Nowhera Shaik as she is giving prominence to women and as far as other parties are concerned, they will prefer only those candidates who have money and muscle power.

Talking about the party's manifesto she said, this is very realistic and this is one of the factors why she chose to join MEP.

Condemning the caste factor that all the parties consider to offer ticket to contest, she said, "Only MEP has given tickets to common people. Even an auto driver who has done social work has found his or her rightful place and this is the beauty of MEP."

Lashing out at the healthcare system she recalled the days of her working as a nurse and said, "The health department is bad, there are no proper facilities and going to private is a costly affair which the poor cannot afford and hence the MEP has decided to give insurance to all the voters if it comes to power."

Her journey as a nurse to the Big Boss to a teleserial artist and now a politician is quite interesting and she credits this rise in career to negative publicity in media which by and large focus on her alleged affair with BJP leader Renukacharya. "Yes I agree, it is only because of negative publicity that I am on top," she said.

On her political opponent, Jayalakshmi says, she holds a lot of respect to Ramalinga Reddy but accuses him of not doing any development work. "The roads are still in bad condition, no proper infrastructure is in place. Hence I have decided to highlight this aspect during my campaign and seek votes," she said.