Mandya, April 16, 2013:
Bowing to pressure from the actor turned politician M H Ambarish, the congress party high command has changed the party candidate for srirangpatna assembly constituency in the district for the May 5 elections.
In what can be termed as a pre-election victory for Mr. Ambarish, who is the Congress candidate for Mandya Assembly constituency, the Congress leadership yesterday decided not to give ‘B’ form to Ravindra Srikantaiah to contest from Srirangapatna constituency.
Now Mr Lingaraju is the congress candidate for srirangpatna .The ‘Rebel Star’ Ambharish is likely to file his nomination tomorrow.
The congress party sources in mandya said that that Ambarish had refused to contest the elections after the party went against his wishes and fielded Ravindra Srikantaiah from Srirangapatna alleging that Ravindra had worked against him in the 2008 polls when he was the Congress candidate from Srirangapatna and lost.
Following Ambarish’s refusal to contest, KPCC President Dr. G. Parameshwar, leader of the opposition Siddharamaiah and others yesterday contacted him over phone and tried to pacify the agitated star, which reportedly refused to budge.
All efforts by thousands of his supporters, who thronged his J.P. Nagar residence in Bangalore, failed to persuade Ambarish to relent.
The party leaders also decided not to give ‘B’ form to Ravindra as Ambarish reiterated that he would neither contest nor campaign for Congress candidates if Ravindra was fielded from Srirangapatna.
The Rebel Star, then relented and the Congress General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry, Ahmed Patel and others spoke to him over phone and persuaded him to file his papers tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Ambarish is reported to have said that Congress, which had its own history comprises workers of all classes and issuing tickets to anti-party workers was questionable and added that he would strive for the success of any candidate other than Ravindra
Meanwhile Hundreds of supporters of Ravindra Srikantaiah, whose Congress ticket to contest from Srirangapatna constituency have been withheld at the behest of Mandya Congress candidate Ambarish, today staged a rasta roko at Kiragandur and Induvala villages in Srirangapatna taluk and Sanjay Theatre Circle in Mandya town on the busy Bangalore-Mysore highway bringing vehicular traffic to a grinding halt.
The protestors, led by Manohar, demanded issuance of B-form of Congress party to Ravindra for the forthcoming election.
Mandya District Congress spokesperson Sathyananda has claimed that upset over refusal of ticket to his follower Ravindra Srikantaiah from Srirangapatna, former Union Minister S.M. Krishna has decided to stay away from campaigning for Congress candidates from the district.
He also said that the Mandya congress committee had written detailed letter to party high command Smt Sonia Gandhi weeks back about current situation of the congress party in the district.
