This island town surrounded by the river Cauvery in Mandya district, was the historic capital of Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan.
Ambi is facing a twin challenge from Sarvodaya Karnataka Party leader Nanjunde Gowda, an unsuccessful but consistent war horse who is into his fifth straight fight, and Janata Dal (Secular) candidate Ramesh Babu Bandisiddegowda, who in reality is just a proxy for party supremo H D Deve Gowda and his former chief minister-son H D Kumaraswamy.
The voters rate Ramesh Babu or 'Babanna' poorly, in spite of his exuberant social work even before the poll was announced, and his role as de facto MLA in place of his mother Vijayalakshmi Bandisiddegowda, who represented the constituency in the last two terms. JD (S) supporters of this predominantly rural belt vouch that their vote is for the Gowdas, whom they hail as saviours of farmers.
Though awed by Babanna's generous spending on the voters, Ambi believes in his 'only' strength - the 'love' of his electorate, who gave him a lead in all three consecutive wins from Mandya parliamentary constituency, of which Srirangapattana is a segment. "There are none to bite the Gowda bait as it happened in Chamundeshwari by-poll which Siddaramaiah won," recalls the star, who campaigned for Siddu in that election.
This time, Ambareesh has roped in some actors like Darshan to canvass for votes. Besides, he is working hard at winning over some JD(S) leaders opposed to the Gowdas.
But his main opponent, Nanjunde Gowda of the Sarvodaya Karnataka Party, a new front of Raitha Sangha, Dalit Sangharsha Samiti and others, reasons that voters would be left in the lurch if Ambi is elected, as even for a routine job such as water release to their fields, they will have to go to Bangalore to meet him. Some villagers endorse this saying that the MP, who promised to relocate to Mandya, does not even have an office here.
But there are others in newly added Kothathi Circle II, which has increased the voter base by nearly 40,000, who are all praise for the MP. "It was Ambareesh who taught us the meaning of fair devolution of MPLAD (MP Local Area Development) funds, without corruption or nepotism," says Nagaraj, a farmer of the Dalit colony here.
Dalits again, as always, are Congress' vote bank. So are the backward classes, especially Kurubas for whom it may be time for thanksgiving to Ambi for helping Siddaramaiah win in Chamundeshwari last time. Besthas, a reasonable chunk, may back their community member Lingaiah, fielded by the BSP. Muslims are divided between Congress and JD (S).
Lone woman candidate
Vokkaligas, numbering 60,000, may vote according to their party and candidate affiliations as all four major party candidates, including BJP’s Pooja Santosh, belong to the dominant caste. Being the lone woman candidate is Pooja’s perceived advantage as this seat has been represented by women most of the time.
Even if Ambi gets his calculations right, he will have to worry about two factors - his main opponent Nanjunde Gowda, who lost by a mere 1,200 votes in 2004 and enjoys voters' sympathy, and his own Congress partyman Ravindra Srikantaiah from whom he wrested the Srirangapattana ticket for himself. Yet, his filmi-type dialogue is: "See who wins on the 25th."
