Rebel Star Ambareesh has proved to be a perfect and true gentleman once again. It is not for nothing that his fans and supporters call him 'Kaliyuga Karna,' the living Karna. The bypolls to the Mandya Parliamentary constituency has proved it again.
Just over three months ago, the cold war between former chief minister SM Krishna and Ambreesh came to the fore during the Karnataka Assembly elections. After Ambreesh gained the upper hand in selecting candidates to the Assembly constituencies in the Vokkaliga heartland of Mandya, Krishna refrained from canvassing in his home district, instead confining his canvassing to Bangalore. Taking this cue, many Krishna supporters in the Congress party did not participate in canvassing in Mandya. This included Ramya. Even when Congress heir Rahul Gandhi came to Mandya, she kept away.
In the election that followed, Ambareesh was the only Congress candidate to win from Mandya, which was swept by the JDS, led by former CM and film producer HD Kumaraswamy. Ambi is now the minister for Housing in the Siddaramaiah government and one of the most influential ministers in the State Cabinet.
Nobody expected the bypolls to the Mandya and Bangalore Rural Parliamentary constituencies to be announced as the term of Lok Sabha is less than one year. In Mandya, Congress was still divided between Ambareesh and SM Krishna camps. But Ambareesh did not oppose Ramya's selection as the party's candidate. In fact he wholeheartedly supported her. Common folks would be surprised that Ambi did not harbour ill-will towards Ramya for not supporting him during the Assembly election. But those who know the 'Mandyada Gandu' better, which is most people, were not surprised.
In his entire career in films and politics, and in his entire life, Ambareesh has not thought about, forget acting against, the interests of even his enemies. During the Assembly elections, the who is who of Sandalwood campaigned for Ambareesh including Darshan, Sudeep, Yash, Duniya Vijay, Nenapirali Prem among others. But Ramya, despite being a card carrying member of the Congress party did not. But Ambareesh is not the one to hold grudges against anyone. He not only supported her candidature but also was present when she filed the nomination papers.
Ramya's foster father, RT Narayan died on the same day of Ramya filing the nominations, and the actress had second thoughts about contesting. It was left to Ambareesh, and not any other 'camp' of the party to convince her to continue the fight. Ambareesh, once again, thus proved to be the real gentleman.