One day Indira Gandhi summoned me to Dharmasthala guest house. "Devaraj Urs is not giving money for campaigning", she complained.

Devaraj Urs was also in the same Guest house. I went straight to his room and countered him "Are you not giving money to Indira Gandhi for her election expenses?" "How can you say that? My entire government is working for her. MLAs and Ministers have been overseeing the campaign. We are taking care of all the expenses," Urs replied. I did not utter a word in return. However, Indira Gandhi's words were ringing in my mind. I contacted my friends and well wishers who are well-off and explained the situation. Kankanadi Ramappa and Jayakar were also among them. "Indira Gandhi has not asked me to collect money, but I consider that it is our duty to help her," I told them. Within no time, they collected Rs 90,000, which was a big amount then. Each candidate used to get Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 as election fund then. We went to the Guest house with money. "Our community people have collected this money for your election expenses," my friends told Indira. She looked at me with hesitation. "Please take it. It is a blessing," I said. Election were held. Indira Gandhi won the seat with a huge margin of 77,333 votes.