George Fernandes had a special connection with Chikkamagaluru, where he worked as campaign manager for the Janata Party in the historic byelection to Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha constituency in November 1978, which was considered a comeback election for Indira Gandhi.
Mr. Fernandes, who was Minister for Industries in the Morarji Desai Cabinet at the Centre, was sent here to lead the campaign for Janata Party candidate Veerendra Patil.
Along with party workers, he had travelled to the nook and corner of the constituency and campaigned vigorously against Indira Gandhi. He connected well with the public as he could speak Kannada.
Thammanna Gowda, 55, a resident of Gabballi in Mudigere taluk, who was a school boy then, said Mr. Fernandes had visited his village with a few leaders. He carried a bucket appealing to the public to donate money generously for the campaign. “In his speeches, he used to ask for one vote and a one rupee note. Many people in my village had contributed one rupee, which was a big amount then,” he said.
Mr. Fernandes, in the campaign meetings, would speak against Indira Gandhi, who clamped Emergency. “He would warn the public that if she was elected, she would clamp Emergency again,” recalled Indresh Gowda, 75, a resident of Gouthavalli in Mudigere taluk. During one of the campaign meetings at Mudigere town, the public felicitated Mr. Fernandes with a garland of one rupee notes.
Indira Gandhi, however, won the elections by a margin of 70,000 votes.
