Mandya: Melkote MLA and farmers’ leader K S Puttannaiah died of a massive heart attack late Sunday night. He was 69.
Puttannaiah was watching a Pro Kabbadi match at Sir M Visvesvaraya Stadium, Mandya, when he complained of uneasiness. He was taken to Mandya Institute of Medical Science where died around 10.45pm.
A leader of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and associate of farmer leader M D Nanjundaswamy, Puttanniah was later associated with the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (Hasiru Sene).
Puttannaiah lost three Assembly elections from the erstwhile Pandavapura constituency and once from Mandya in the Lok Sabha elections. He was elected to the assembly in 1994 from Pandavapura, Mandya, as an independent. In 2013, he was re-elected from Melkote constituency as a candidate of Sarvodaya Party led by Dalit writer Devanuru Mahadeva.
According to sources in the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, the funeral is expected to be held with state honours at his native village, Kyathanalli, in Pandavapura taluk on Monday.
Puttannaiah’s death is a big blow to the farmers’ movement in the State. Whether it was the issue of load-shedding or the fixing of procurement price for sugarcane, Puttannaiah was always in the forefront, raising his voice for the support of farmers.
His vast knowledge on various inter-State water-sharing disputes, especially the Cauvery issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and his eagerness to solve woes of farming community had earned him wide recognition as a farmers’ leader.
Born on December 23, 1949, Puttannaiah completed his graduation at D. Banumaiah College in Mysuru. He took KRRS membership in 1983. After that he never looked back, and was always fought for farmers.
He was the only leader in the Assembly who could effectively table the issues with ground reality and statistics on Cauvery agitation, drought, drinking water, load-shedding, farmers’ suicides, and harassment by finance agencies.
CM mourns
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has mourned the death of Puttannaiah. In a condolence message, he said Puttannaiah’s death had come as a shock. “The State’s farmers’ movement has lost a prominent leader,” he said and remarked that he was pained by the death of his long-time friend.
