Mandya/Bengaluru: Ambarish won three Parliamentary elections. He was a Central Minister for a while, holding the portfolio of Information and Broadcasting for about two years. He later became Housing Minister in the Siddharamaiah Cabinet in Karnataka. When he was dropped from the Cabinet in 2016 for poor performance, a miffed Ambarish resigned.
Ambarish considered himself a force to reckon with in the Vokkaliga heartland of Mandya. So did the Congress. However, his poor health forced him to stay away from politics for the past several months. “You think I can’t influence an election sitting at home,” he had asked, in his inimitable slapstick humour. At one point, Ambarish was touted as a Chief Ministerial candidate.
