Karnataka polls: Slighted filmstar Ambareesh is a ticking timebomb for Congress

Siddaramaiah Congress Karnataka

Ramakrishna Upadhya

MH Ambareesh, known as the “rebel star” because of the popularity of his rebellious roles in Kannada films, is giving jitters to the Congress party by not only refusing to contest from Mandya in the upcoming assembly elections, but venting his displeasure with the state leadership.

The mercurial actor, who has strained relations with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, indulged in a cat-and-mouse game with Congress leaders announced on the last day of nominations that he would neither contest nor campaign for the party for “health reasons.”

A veteran of over 200 films, the 66-year-old, whose multitude of fans call him the "Iron man of Mandya," has been clearly upset ever since Siddaramaiah dropped him from his cabinet in June 2016 on the grounds of “non-performance.” His grouse was that he was not even taken into confidence before being dropped, and if non-performance was the criterion, Siddaramaiah should have sacked more than half of his cabinet.

“Are we like slippers to be used and thrown away? We should have been sent in a dignified way…If I’m incompetent, how am I competent to be even an MLA?” he had then said. There was speculation that he might leave Congress, but he preferred to keep a low profile and bide his time.

Leaving or rejoining Congress is nothing new to Ambareesh, who has been elected to the assembly twice and four times to the Lok Sabha, once on a Janata Dal ticket in 1999. He was one of the only four from Janata Dal to win, that too by a margin of over one lakh votes, at a time when Congress swept 24 other seats from Karnataka.

Ambareesh had briefly served as Union minister of state for information and broadcasting in the Manmohan Singh ministry during 2006-08, but resigned from the cabinet to protest over the Cauvery water issue.

After winning the 2013 assembly election from Mandya by a handsome margin of 43,000 votes and becoming a minister for the first time in the state, he had hoped to be recognised as a strong Vokkaliga face in the Congress government – which indeed, he was.

But, Siddaramaiah had other ideas. He wanted to project his government as a true representative of the ‘Ahinda’ movement (acronym for minorities, dalits and backward classes) and end the domination of major castes like Lingayats and Vokkaligas. Ambareesh did not help himself either with his laidback approach, being irregular to cabinet meetings and assembly sessions.

With the defection of SM Krishna to the BJP and sidelining of Ambareesh, Congress is without a credible Vokkaliga leader and the field has been left wide open to JD(S)’s Deve Gowda to exploit it to the hilt.

The Vokkaligas are a dominant force in the old Mysore region which has 89 assembly seats at stake. The Congress had won as many as 55 seats to JD(S)’ 34 in 2013, thanks to serious campaigning by Krishna, Ambareesh and DK Shivakumar, but it is unlikely to do so well this time.

While announcing his decision to stay away from elections, Ambareesh had heaped praise on Deve Gowda, calling the 85-year-old patriarch as a marathon man who had the stamina to be in different places on a single day. “Even if someone gives me Rs10 crore I can’t campaign like that,” he had said admiringly, setting off immediate speculation that he might consider joining JD(S).

Considering that he is still smarting under the ‘humiliation’ meted out to him and when he speaks of Siddaramaiah there is revenge on his mind, Ambareesh joining or campaigning for JD(S) cannot be ruled out. To the emotional Vokkaligas, he simply has to play the ‘betrayal card’ to inflict heavy damages on the Congress. HD Kumaraswamy has described him as a “brother” and extended an open invitation to him.

Ambareesh no longer acts in films, but he might want to play one last villainous role in politics before retiring from public life.