Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (PS/EP)
Udupi, Mar 8: As expected, former MP Jayaprakash Hegde finally joined BJP in a ceremony held in Bengaluru on Wednesday March 8.
He was welcomed to the BJP party office in Bengaluru by Karkala MLA and chief whip of the opposition Sunil Kumar.
With a year to go for the state Assembly elections, transitions have already begun in many political parties. Discussions within the political circles of coastal Karnataka were heard about Jayaprakash Hegde joining BJP and vice versa from the last one year. Putting all speculations to rest, Hegde finally joined BJP in its Bengaluru office in the presence of union ministers and state leaders like B S Yeddyurappa, Jagadish Shettar and R Ashok.
The veteran politician is the man who, as a Congressman, had destroyed the fortress of a strong BJP in coastal Karnataka. When it was being said that Congress days were over, Hegde rose to the occasion and gave it a new lease of life in coastal Karnataka. Hegde had achieved tremendous success when he contested elections in the position vacated by the then chief minister Sadananda Gowda.
Hegde who had won elections as a Janata Dal candidate and as an independent, was expelled by the Congress for contesting against the party’s official candidate in the Legislative Council polls from Dakshina Kannada-Udupi in 2015. It is said that he joined BJP to defeat the Congress.
While some sources say that Hegde will contest elections from Byndoor Assembly constituency, it is being also said that he will be a candidate from Udupi–Chikkmagaluru constituency in the next Lok Sabha elections.
Apart from Hegde, Meghanath Shetty, who was president of Moodbidri Congress block, also joined BJP.
Party leaders from Udupi like former MLA Raghupati Bhat, MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary, Udupi district BJP president Mattar Ratnakar Hegde, Yashpal Suvarna and others were present.
A BJP convention will be organized in Udupi on March 18, during which followers of J P Hegde from all over the coastal region, as well as those expelled from other parties, are expected to join BJP in the presence of the party's state leaders.
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