After playing hide-and-seek with Congress leaders for the last few days, actor-turned-politician and party MLA, M.H. Ambareesh, did not file nomination papers from Mandya. He has decided to stay away from the party’s campaign on “health grounds”.
Mr. Ambareesh broke his silence over his decision to not contest from Mandya after the party gave the ‘B’ form to Ravikumar Ganiga on Tuesday, the last day for filing nominations. Mr. Ganiga runs a local TV channel. He filed the nomination from the constituency at the eleventh hour.
Mr. Ambareesh said he had decided not to contest the elections a few months ago, but he had not formally responded to the Congress which had given him ticket to contest from Mandya. Asked about the reasons for not contesting the elections, Mr. Ambareesh, 66, said, “I am not keeping well. Therefore, I will not campaign for the party candidate in the election.
“It is easy to ask votes for me, but it is different to seek vote for other candidates.”
He ruled out his support for any party or candidate in Mandya. “I did not suggest a candidate for Mandya. Had I suggested any name, it would have been my responsibility to ensure the victory of the candidate.”
His staying away from the campaign in Mandya district is likely to benefit the Janata Dal (Secular) to an extent as the Mandya Congress would virtually be left with no senior Vokkaliga leader, with veteran S.M. Krishna in the BJP and Mr. Ambareesh remaining away.
Earlier in the day, as a final call, KPCC president G. Parameshwara had sought a meeting with Mr. Ambareesh. However, Mr. Ambareesh did not turn up to meet the party chief. Left with no option on the last day for filing nominations, the party gave the ‘B’ form to Mr. Ganiga. On Sunday morning, Mr. Ambareesh skipped a meeting that was scheduled to be held with Mr. Siddaramaiah at his residence in Mysuru.
Party sources said Mr. Ambareesh was unhappy and had felt that the party had sidelined him. He was dropped from the State Cabinet about two years ago and he has been sulking since then. He was upset with the fact that he was dropped citing his non-performance as the Housing Minister and his ill health.
‘Why contest in two constituencies?’
Actor-turned-politician M.H. Ambareesh openly expressed his reservations about the Chief Minister’s decision to contest the elections from two constituencies — Chamundeshwari and Badami.
“Being a Chief Minister he (Siddaramaiah) could have contested from only Chamundeshwari to prove the popularity of his Bhagya schemes,” he said.
