K. Jayaprakash Hegde

Born in Korgi, Kundapura taluk, Udupi district, Jayaprakash Hegde is a practicing advocate and entered politics very early in his life. He has been elected thrice to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly as an independent candidate from the Brahmavara constituency and served as Minister holding the portfolio of Ports and Fisheries. He is married to Veena Hegde and has two children, a son, Nishanth and a daughter, Divya.[2] He was Minister in charge for undivided Mangalore and Udupi District. It is due to his fight and determination that Udupi was finally declared as an independent district in 1997. When his Brahmavar constituency was divided by central govt. and it no longer existed, he was forced to join Congress party for political survival. In 2009 he contested unsuccessfully from the Udupi Chikmagalur for the 2009 Indian general election on an Indian National Congress ticket.[3] Hegde has been elected to Lok Sabha from the same constituency following a by election in 2012.[4] He was the most popular MP the constituency has had and had a tremendous track record of work in only 1.5 years. However, in 2014, because of the unprecedented Modi wave, Shobha Karandlaje, who is a close associate of BJP heavyweight B.S. Yediyurappa defeated Congress candidate, Jayaprakash Hegde, by a margin of nearly one lac votes. The Congress on Monday December 14, 2015 expelled Jayaprakash Hegde, from the party for six years due to his popularity causing insecurities for Rajya Sabha MP Sri Oscar Fernandes. Jayaprakash Hegde being a worker's candidate and not a top leaders follower, faced several issues in the Congress and due to his inability to obey orders of Oscar Fernandes, he was removed from the party without notice. Standing as an independent candidate in the Dakshina Kannada constituency, he gave the Congress party a run for its money, when more than half of the party workers voted for him instead of the official Congress candidate. The Indian National Congress has not seen victory in coastal Karnataka ever since the ejection of Jayaprakash Hegde. His exit has left a big gap in leadership and tea building in Coastal Karnataka Congress. He is said to be one of the cleanest politician in the state, well respected by the general public, media and other politicians. He had successfully completed his MP term by undertaking many good things in few months of term, that couldn't be continued in the next terms by the other MP. Despite being out of power, he continues to do public service and brings in important projects for the constituency. He had refused to return to the Congress party recently, despite repeated requests.

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