In a relief to the Congress, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) vice-president and Mandya candidate M H Ambareesh finally agreed to file his nomination for the upcoming elections.
He is expected to do this on Wednesday. Ambareesh had refused to contest the elections after the party went against his wishes and fielded Ravindra Srikantaiah from Srirangapatna. Ambareesh, who had lost the previous election from Srirangapatna, blamed Srikantaiah’s “anti-party activities” for the loss and charged him with supporting JD(S) candidate Ramesh Bandisiddegowda. Though Ambareesh, who was supposed to file his nomination on Monday, asked his party not to consider Srikantaiah for Srirangapatna, the Congress on Sunday announced that he would get the B Form.
Irked, Ambareesh had declared that he would neither contest from Mandya nor campaign there and would support Mandya Congress president Atmananda. He said he would not change his decision even if AICC chairperson Sonia Gandhi asked him to.
On Sunday his supporters requested him to contest the polls. Ambareesh told them on Monday morning that he will decide after speaking to the party leaders. His follower and Melukote candidate L D Ravi too did not file his nomination on Monday.
It was only after Congress general secretary Madhusudhan Mistry and other leaders contacted Ambareesh on Monday and convinced him to contest the election that he relented and agreed to file his nomination on Wednesday. In its third list, the party replaced Srikantaiah with Lingaraju for the Srirangapatna seat. Former zilla panchayat member and Mandya Congress leader H N Manjunath alleged that Ambareesh was blackmailing Congress leaders adding that it was not becoming of his stature. Manjunath told reporters on Monday that Ambareesh, being a former Union minister and present KPCC vice-president, should stop “hate politics”.
Meanwhile, KPCC vice-president and former minister A Krishnappa, an aspirant from the KR Puram Assembly seat, joined the JD(S) on Monday and will contest from Hiriyur in Tumkur district. Meanwhile, the Congress has fielded BBMP corporator Bhairathy Basavaraj from KR Puram seat.
The party was facing trouble in Bhadravathi where its sitting MLAs B K Sangamesh had filed his nomination papers on Monday sans the B form. But the Congress has fielded CM Ibrahim from the same constituency. Supporters of former minister H M Revanna on Monday thronged the KPCC office to demand a ticket to him. The party has fielded Rehman Sharief, the grandson of former Railway minister C K Jaffer Sharief from Hebbal.