Election in Mandya Assembly constituency has attracted the attention of the whole State due to the contest of actor-turned politician, former Union minister of state for Information and Broadcasting, and KPCC vice-president M H Ambareesh — popularly known as ‘Rebel Star’.
Sandalwood stars like Darshan Thoogudeepa, ‘Duniya Vijay’, Yash, ‘Nenapirali’ Prem, Sudeep,Ramya and others have been campaigning for their senior colleague throughout the constituency. Voters are happy interacting with their reel heroes in real life.
The actor-turned-politician, Ambareesh, has represented Mandya in the Lok Sabha three times, but he has lost the 2008 Assembly election from Srirangapatna and MP election in 2009. His nearest rival M Srinivas of JD(S) has won the past two Assembly elections and is looking forward for a hatrick.
What seemed to be a uphill task for Srinivas seems to have eased with rebel JD(S) candidate Ashok Jayaram retiring in his favour at the behest of the party supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.
Out of 2,22,834 voters in the constituency, 1,10,877 are men and 1,11,957 women. There will be 247 polling booths. According to one survey, 50 per cent of the voters are Vokkaligas, 22 per cent Dalits, 16 per cent Muslims, eight per cent Kurubas and five per cent Lingayats.
As Vokkaligas form the major part of the electorate, most of the candidates belong to the community.
The fight has always been between the Congress and Janata parivar. Out of 15 elections held so far — including by-elections — Congress has won six and Janata parivar six, while Independents have won three of them.
Only M S Athmananda has been elected thrice — once as a Janata Party candidate and twice as Congress nominee. He was also once a minister. G S Bommegowda, S D Jayaram and M Srinivas have won two elections each.
K V Shankaregowda, who won the first election in 1952, is still revered as the ‘Architect of Modern Mandya’ and ‘Nithyasachiva’ (meaning minister for ever).
The others are J Devaiah, Nagappa, M H Boriah, B Doddaboregowda and S D Jayaram’s wife Prabhavathi Jayaram. It is the couple’s son Ashok Jayaram, who contested as a JD(S) rebel. However, he has retired from the contest in favour of M Srinivas, at the behest of H D Deve Gowda.
Ambareesh is also facing problems within the party. Athmananda, who aspired for the Congress ticket, has resigned from the District Congress president’s post and has declared to stay neutral in the election.
His father M K Shivananjappa was MP, his mother Leelamma was MLC and his uncle (father’s younger brother) M K Ramalingaiah was president of the then Mandya town municipal council for three decades, undisputed. So, Athmananda cannot be taken lightly.
However, Ravindra Srikantaiah, who had come all the way from Srirangapatna constituency to file his nomination as an Independent, only to register his protest against Ambareesh, has withdrawn. Ravindra is upset with Ambareesh, who was responsible for withdrawal of the Congress ticket issued to him.
Rahul’s visit
Former chief minister S M Krishna, who introduced Ambareesh to politics, is unhappy with the latter regarding selection of candidates in the district. So, he may not campaign for Ambareesh and his nominees in the district. According to Manickam Tagore, AICC observer in the district, AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi will address a public meeting at Sir M Visvesvaraya Stadium in Mandya on Wednesday (May 1).
Detractors complain that Ambareesh is out of reach of common people and does not reside in Mandya. Actor Sumalatha, wife of Ambareesh, does not agree. “How many leaders are available to people nowadays?
And, who says Ambareesh is not accessible. He is what he is today due to the people. What people need is their work done. How does it matter whether he resides in Bangalore or Mandya? By the way, how many leaders reside in Mandya? Almost all leaders, throughout the state, are in Bangalore.”
As soon as Ambareesh filed his nomination on April 17, pooja was offered at their new rented house in Mandya city. Since then, the couple have been residing in the city and campaigning.
Sumalatha, who used to accompany her husband only for filing of nomination during earlier elections, is touring the constituency, seeking votes.
Srinivas is MLA for the past nine years and is riding on anti-incumbency wave. He is depending on the strong presence of party workers, and charisma of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.
The father-son-duo has always had great influence over the voters in the district
Earlier JD(S) ticket aspirant Ganiga Ravikumar is now with Ambareesh. T L Ravishankar of BJP, Venkatesh Achar of KJP and others are in the fray.