The Hindu : Karnataka News : It will not be smooth for Ambareesh

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

It will not be smooth for Ambareesh

Shankar Bennur

He is in the fray after the Congress removed Ravindra Srikantaiah’s name from the first list

The constituency is all set to witness a triangular contest
Congress leaders say he will win with a good margin

M.H. Ambareesh

SRIRANGAPATNA: Srirangapatna, the historic island town surrounded by the Cauvery waters, is in the spotlight with film star-turned-politician M.H. Ambareesh hoping to enter the Legislative Assembly, for the first time, from the constituency. The Mandya MP, who managed to get ticket despite strong opposition from the local Congress workers, made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the Assembly in the by-election from Ramanagaram as the Janata Dal(S) nominee in 1996.

This time around too, the road to Vidhana Soudha is not smooth for the actor, who is popularly called as “Rebel Star” by his fans, as a couple of his opponents are likely to give a tough fight to him. Also, a section of the party workers in the constituency is not “whole-heartedly” working for the success of the actor, who managed to pip Ravindra Srikantaiah, son of the former Congress MLA, Parvathamma Srikantaiah.

Although the State party leaders had maintained that rebellion in the segment had been tackled, Mr. Ravindra Srikantaiah, who withdrew from the race despite being the first choice of the party, and his supporters are upset with the party’s choice and are not campaigning for the actor. Mr. Ravindra Srikantaiah belongs to a well-known family which has been in politics for the last 45 years.

The three-time Mandya MP, who hails from Maddur taluk, received a rousing welcome from his fans when he came here to file his nomination papers. Will the actor manage to get the support like he got (from the voters of Srirangapatna) to achieve a hat-trick in the parliamentary elections? Will the actor’s huge fan following translate into votes? The actor is locked in a triangular contest with Ramesh Babu Bandisidde Gowda of the Janata Dal(S) and K.S. Nanjunde Gowda of Sarvodaya Karnataka Party.

Two-time MLA Vijayalakshmi Bandisidde Gowda, who represented Srirangapatna in the dissolved Assembly, managed to get ticket for her son, Ramesh Babu, who is hopeful of putting up a good show.

Mr. Nanjunde Gowda, who lost the previous election by a small margin, is all set to give a determined fight this time. A popular leader of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), who unsuccessfully fought five elections, has emerged as a “tough” contender against the actor.

The farmers’ movement is strong in the district and leaders, including K.S. Puttanaiah, who is contesting from the Melkote constituency, and Mr. Nanjunde Gowda, enjoy farmers’ support after having participated in the Cauvery agitation, the protest to seek support price for sugarcane and others.

B. Lingaiah of the BSP and Puja Santosh of the BJP are the other two contenders.

The segment, which is dominated by Vokkaligas, Dalits and minorities, has 1,81,515 voters. Of this, 90,868 are male voters and 90,647 are female voters.

Although political observers here feel that Mr. Ambareesh, a Vokkaliga leader, popularly known as “Mandyada Gandu” (the man of Mandya), has an edge over others, the fight will be an interesting one because of rebellion in the local Congress unit. The three other candidates, Ramesh Babu, Nanjunde Gowda and Puja Santosh, also belong to the Vokkaliga community.

Ramesh Babu is banking on the achievements of the Janata Dal(S)-led coalition government and the programmes implemented by his mother. The party leaders here argue that the Janata Dal(S), which swept the polls in 2004, is all set to put up a similar performance, highlighting the achievements of the H.D. Kumaraswamy Government.

The BJP is of the view that the constituency had favoured women candidates since 1989 and is hopeful that the electorate would once again elect a woman. The party, which could not make an impact in the last elections, is beaming with confidence after the joining of the former Congress MP, G. Made Gowda.

The Congress leaders here are confident that Mr. Ambareesh will romp home with a huge margin as the people of Mandya have never let him down. They argue that he has always stood by the people. The actor quit the Manmohan Singh Cabinet and also as Member of Parliament in protest against the Cauvery verdict.

However, there is little dissatisfaction among the voters about Mr. Ambareesh for not effectively highlighting issues concerning farmers, including the Cauvery waters and support price for sugarcane, in Parliament.

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