Puttannaiah were shocked by the defeat of Swaraj India candidate Darshan Puttannaiah in the elections to Melkote constituency. Cutting across the party affiliations, Mr. Darshan had been receiving blessings from the people continuously. Mr. Darshan secured 73,779 votes and Mr. Puttaraju 96,003 votes. It has been alleged that Mr. Puttaraju was indulging in illegal stone quarrying activities. The “anti-Darshan campaign” terming him as an “outsider and citizen of U.S.” was conducted across the constituency recently, another senior KRRS leader said.

Source: The Hindu May 15, 2018 16:52 UTC