Cong moves to quell dissent in Mandya

In an effort to end the factional feud in the Mandya district unit of the Congress, the KPCC on Tuesday appointed a close aide of Housing Minister M H Ambarish as the working president of the party in the district, besides appointing 35 party workers as officer-bearers.

P M Somashekar, a close follower of Ambarish, is the working president. A majority of the 35 officer-bearers are supporters of Ambarish. The party expects that the move will end the war between the Ambarish and the S M Krishna factions in the district. 

The supporters of Ambarish had been demanding that district party president Atmananda be removed from his post. Atmananda is a close follower of Krishna. With the KPCC refusing to remove Atmananda, supporters of Ambarish had kept themselves away from campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.

Besides, supporters of Ambarish were upset with party candidate for Mandya parliamentary constituency, Ramya, for allegedly making adverse comments against their leader recently. The party’s election campaign for Mandya, as a result, had gone off track. KPCC chief G Parameshwara and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah intervened and held a meeting with Krishna and the supporters of Ambarish.

Krishna has decided to start his poll campaign on Wednesday from the Bangalore Central constituency. Later, he is scheduled to campaign for Ramya in Mandya, where he will also inaugurate a Mandya Congress parliamentary constituency campaign office.