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In Mandya, Congress factionalism resurfaces

Former CM S.M. Krishna targeting Housing Minister M.H. Ambareesh

Mysore: Despite sharing a common platform in Mandya on Monday, there is no end to the factional war between Housing Minister M.H. Ambareesh and former CM S.M. Krishna.

A day after the much hyped Congress convention which was expected to give Mandya Congress candidate Ramya a boost, Mr Ambareesh’s supporters skipped Mr Krishna’s road show in Srirangapatna on Tuesday while Mr Krishna indirectly blamed the ‘Rebel Star’ for the Congress defeat in Srirangapatna during the last assembly election.

This could be a big disappointment for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who at Monday’s convention, had declared that all differences in the Mandya Congress had been resolved and there was no factional fight.

Mr Krishna's road show and addressed a public rally in Srirangapatna organized by his confident Ravindra Srikantaiah which was given a miss by Srirangapatna block Congress president Lingaraju and other followers of Ambareesh. It is said that Ambareesh’s supporters were not even invited for the programmes.

While addressing the gathering, Mr. Krishna said that despite having a good support base in Srirangapatna, the Congress does not have a MLA from the constituency.

“I see a huge gathering here, but it’s unfortunate that Srirangapatna is not represented by a Congress legislator. People who are responsible for this should feel ashamed”, he said indirectly referring to Mr. Ambareesh.

During the last assembly elections, Mr Ambareesh and Mr Krishna were at loggerheads on the choice of candidate for Srirangapatna. Mr. Krishna sought the party ticket for Mr. Ravindra Srikantaiah and Mr. Ambareesh lobbied for Mr. Lingaraju.

Eventually, Mr. Ambareesh had his say and the party gave the ticket to Mr. Lingaraju who was defeated at the hands of the JD(S) candidate.

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