Udupi: “Jayaprakash Hedge’s simplicity has turned to opportunism,” said U R Sabhapathi, former MLA of Udupi constituency. He was addressing a press meet held at the Press Club here, on December 18.
“No leader should think that the Congress party will not function without them. The Congress party has given ample opportunities to former MP Jayaprakash Hegde but now his intentions of independently contesting the MLC elections are not clear. The calculations made by Jayaprakash Hegde for winning the MLC elections are not relevant and will lead to his defeat,” he said.
He further said, “I have lost elections by distancing myself from the Congress party and Jayaprakash Hegde is following the same path. This path ends in defeat.”
Sabhapathi aslo said that Jayaprakash Hegde was present during the district Congress meeting where it was clearly stated that Pratap Chandra Shetty would be nominated to contest the MLC elections. When Jayaprakash Hegde remained adamant on contesting MLC elections, the Chief Minister and also Dr G Parameshwar contacted him but he replied, “I will withdraw nomination if anyone else is allowed to contest instead of Pratap Chandra Shetty”. The intentions of Jayaprakash Hegde are not clear.
Pratap Chandra Shetty is an active politician. He participates actively in all issues discussed in the legislative assembly. He has worked hard to draw the attention of the government for the completion of Varahi irrigation project, stated Sabhapathi.
There are 230 Gram Panchayats in Dakshina Kannada having 3465 members and 158 Gram Panchayats in Udupi having 2477 members. “We are visiting every Gram Panchayat and we are confident of winning 2900-3000 votes,” he added.
