Jayaprakash Hegde loses but proves he is no pushover

Mangaluru: Despite winning the Dakshina Kannada Council seat, the smiles have gone missing from the faces of Congress leaders. The fact that Congress rebel Jayaprakash Hegde could muster about 1,000 votes is a matter of concern, they admit, though he could not win the seat.

“Jayaprakash Hegde was an outsider who joined Congress just a few years ago. Yet he managed to get 872 votes of which over 500 votes are from Congress and rest from BJP. Another rebel, Harikrishna Bantwal, too managed to get 127 votes. This is a matter of concern for the party,” a senior Congress leader told Deccan Chronicle.

“Morally, we have lost as Hegde managed to get 872 votes which is really a good performance. Before the election, Congress leaders had said we had 2,700 votes and now, our candidate got only 2,237 votes which means we have lost about 500 votes. Hegde has played the caste card and managed to get most of the Bunt votes.”