BENGALURU: The 'Rebel Star' of Kannada cinema had everything that takes to emerge as a superhero in politics too. However, his laidback approach, frank, assertive and uncompromising nature, proved a hurdle for his success in the political field.
Though his tryst with politics started in 1994, when he was inducted into Congress party in the presence of the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, he had to wait for two years before he could take a plunge into electoral battle. The internal politics over ticket distribution in Congress for the Mandya seat in 1996 Lok Sabha polls forced Ambareesh to quit Congress.
The 1996 Lok Sabha election was historic as the then Chief Minister H D Deve Gowda went on to become the Prime Minister. Gowda brought Ambareesh into JD(S) and fielded him from Ramangara constituency in the bypoll which was necessitated by Gowda’s resignation as the MLA.
At the peak of his star power, with the backing of the then Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, the bypoll should have been a cakewalk for Ambareesh. But he suffered a humiliating defeat against Congress candidate C M Lingappa. He first tasted victory in politics in the 1998 Lok Sabha election when he defeated Mandya strongman G Made Gowda, the Congress candidate.
The collapse of NDA government at the Centre forced yet another election for Lok Sabha in 1999 and the political changes affected Ambareesh too as he quit JD(S) and returned to Congress. He was re-elected to Lok Sabha in 1999 and 2004 as a Congress candidate.
He was inducted into the Manmohan Singh ministry as the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting in May 2006. However, the Cauvery crisis in 2008 — when Karnataka was forced to release water to Tamil Nadu even when the farmers in Mandya were hit by drought — forced the Rebel Star to quit the ministry. The commitment of Ambareesh for the cause of Mandya proved inadequate to fetch him political dividend as he suffered a defeat in the 2009 Lok Sabha election against N Cheluvarayaswamy of JD(S). He successfully contested the 2013 assembly election from Mandya and was inducted into the Siddaramaiah government as the housing minister.
However, he had to pay for his laid-back approach in politics and candid, assertive style of functioning. Siddaramaiah unceremoniously dropped him from the ministry in June 2016.
As he could never compromise with his self-pride and never lobbied or jockeyed for power, he was upset. He vented his ire openly against the Congress leadership.
“I would have voluntarily thrown my resignation letter if Siddaramaiah had said that my performance as a minister was not satisfactory,” Ambareesh had said.
Efforts of Congress leaders to pacify him proved futile. Siddaramaiah himself went to Ambareesh’s house during the run-up to the recent assembly election to offer him the ticket, but an angry Ambi rejected it.