LS Polls: Jayaprakash Hegde set to join Congress; to contest from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru?

Udupi: Former Chairman of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, K Jayaprakash Hegde, is set to join the Congress party on March 12 at 4 pm at the KPCC office on Queens Road, Bengaluru.

There is every possibility that he will also be the candidate of the Congress party for the Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency. Jayaprakash Hegde himself confirmed to ‘Udayavani’ about his rejoining the Congress party.

Hegde had won from the Brahmavara Assembly Constituency on several occasions and served as the first District In-charge Minister of Udupi District. He then joined the Congress Party and became a Member of Parliament in the 2012 by-election from the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha Constituency. He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Congress party. In subsequent developments, he left the Congress party and joined the BJP.

He was appointed as the chairman of the state Backward Classes Commission when the BJP government was in power. He recently submitted the much-discussed  socio-economic and education survey report, also known as the caste survey report, to the government.

Following the end of his tenure as chairman of the commission, Hegde had discussed the possibility of joining the Congress with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.