Bengaluru: Cine actor turned politician M.H. Ambarish may contest the coming Lok Sabha polls in 2019 on a Janata Dal (Secular) ticket from Mandya with the reports gaining credence after Mr Ambarish met Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy at his residence a few days ago.
After the recently-held Assembly polls, 'Rebel Star’ Ambarish had kept himself away from active politics as he was busy with the shooting of his son's debut film in Kannada. For this reason, he did not show interest to contest from the Mandya City Assembly seat though Congress leaders offered him a party ticket and also sent the 'B' form to his residence.
Mr Ambarish played hide and seek with the state leaders by remaining incognito even as PCC President G Parameshwar and AICC General Secretary and In-charge of Karnataka affairs K.C. Venugopal tried their best to convince him to contest from Mandya in vain. Mr Ambarish also refused to campaign for Congress candidates in Mandya district resulting in the party getting whitewashed in the polls. According to JD(S) sources, Mr Ambarish had severed his ties with the Congress ever since he was dropped from the Siddaramaiah cabinet citing 'poor performance'.
Naturally, this hurt him and he did not participate in the election rally addressed by Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Mandya. After a temporary phase of hibernation, the 'Mandyada Gandu' is learnt to have decided to jump into electoral politics again by contesting from the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency. In fact, this seat has been vacant after sitting MP Mr C.S. Puttaraju resigned and won from the Melukote Assembly constituency in the recent polls. Now, he has become Minor Irrigation Minister in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government. Sources said JD(S) is scouting for a suitable candidate for 2019 Lok Sabha polls and reportedly approached Mr Ambarish to return to the party. He had been offered the JD(S) ticket for Mandya as the party is in a comfortable position after having won all seats in the Assembly polls.
Besides, JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda wields good support among Vokkaligas who form the major chunk of voters in the district. In view of these factors, Mr Gowda may bargain for the Mandya LS seat with Mr Ambarish said to be the best possible candidate to win the seat.
However, sources pointed out that, it was difficult to study the mindset of Mr Ambarish who is known for saying 'no' at the last moment. It may not be surprising if the cine actor does to the JD(S) what he did to the Congress during the Assembly polls.
The Congress on the other hand, is yet to free itself from the shock it experienced after it lost all Mandya seats in the Assembly polls. Earlier, former MP and Congress Social Media In-charge Ramya aka Divyaspandana had shown her inclination to contest from Mandya again.
If she declines to contest, the Congress party does not have a suitable candidate to take on JD(S) in the district-unless of course the two parties strike an alliance for the parliamentary polls.
