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Sandalwood fares poorly in Karnataka assembly elections

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In the south, politics and films have always had a connection. In the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, film stars have always played an important role in both. Top stars like late M G Ramachandran (MGR), J Jayalalithaa and N T Rama Rao (NTR) went on to become chief ministers of their respective states. However, in Karnataka, the craze for stars in politics has not been so much. The people here are not star crazy and do not give much importance to star value like their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Many political parties had approached the late Dr. Rajkumar to join them and become their candidate. He could have also become the chief minister but he rejected the offer. Ambareesh is the only actor, who has held a position of power in politics. He has been an union as well as a state minister. However, this time due to alleged differences with acting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he decided not to contest the elections.

Umashree, who is also an actress, lost in the Karnataka elections from the Terdal constituency, by 20888 votes to BJP candidate Siddu Savadi. She was a minister in Siddaramaiah’s state cabinet. However, even that failed in getting her the required votes to win.

In Bengaluru, popular actor Jaggesh, who contested on BJP’s ticket in Yeshwanthpur was confident of winning the elections. However, he lost to Congress candidate Somashekar. He was pushed to the third place in Yeshwanthpur, Congress being the first and JDS the second. In 2008, Jaggesh had won from the Turvekere constituency and contested as a Congress candidate.

Popular Kannada and Telugu actor Saikumar, who had contested in 2008 from the Bagepalli constituency in Chikkaballapur, had also lost the elections. This time he failed even more miserably. He was pushed to the fourth place by winning only 4140 votes as against the winning Congress candidate Subbareddy, who got 65710 votes. His star value did not fetch him any additional votes.

Shashikumar, an actor who was earlier an MP from the Chitradurga constituency, had joined the Congress back in 2006. This time, after he did not get a ticket from the Congress, he jumped to the JDS and contested on their ticket, only to lose to Gulihatti Shekar from BJP in Hosadurga.

Basavanagowda Channabasavanagowda Patil, popularly known as B C Patil, won from the Hirekerur Assembly Constituency on a Congress ticket. The former cop, who has also acted in many Kannada films, had also produced Kannada film “Happy New Year” last year.

Madhu Bangarappa, who owns an audio company and whose film “Devi”, in which he acted as the lead, lost to his brother Kumar Bangarappa in Soraba. In the past two assembly elections, Madhu Bangarappa had defeated Kumar Bangarappa. However, the change this time was that Kumar contested on the BJP’s ticket.

Meanwhile, elections for the Rajarajeshwari constituency will be held on May 28, wherein Sandalwood producer Muniratna Naidu is contesting on the Congress’ ticket. Controversial celebrity and actor Huccha Venkat is also contesting as an independent from the same constituency.

C P Yogeshwar, who has acted in films, lost to H D Kumarswamy in the Channapatna constituency. This was not expected, as Yogeshwar has been winning in this constituency for many terms. This time, he contested on the BJP’s ticket.

The biggest successful Sandalwood connect with politics however, might be JDS State President and chief minister aspirant H D Kumarswamy. If things go well, the film producer-turned-politician is all set to become the chief minister of Karnataka. With a fractured verdict, the Congress and JDS are ready to join hands and they have named Kumarswamy as their chief ministerial candidate.

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