Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Jan 27: Former MP K Jayaprakash Hegde, who was expelled from the Congress party days before the MLC elections in December, has now devoted his full attention towards bringing together independents.

Hegde, speaking to the media, laid bare his stand about the upcoming zilla and taluk panchayat elections. Although it is generally being thought that Hegde and his followers want to humiliate Congress for ousting Hegde, it has been observed that Hegde has been preparing the ground to unite independent candidates in coastal Karnataka and create an organization that is able to challenge national parties here.

Hegde strongly believes that politics should be bonded with personal relationships. He has announced that he would work for those who seek his support without being aligned with a particular party. Towards this end, he has already travelled through the length and breadth of the district thrice. It is said that Hegde will provide solid support to members of local administrations and activists who supported him during the legislative council election. There are also those who analyze that he will provide support even to those of his well-wishers, who secure Congress tickets for the coming elections.

Hegde says that Congress has suffered reverses by shunting him out. He predicted that it will suffer further if it drives out his supporters. "All active party workers are with me. Only those who crave for power and fame are siding with Congress leaders," he claimed.

On whether he had discussed the possibility of building an alternative power centre by bringing together independent MLA representing the assembly constituency here, Halady Srinivas Shetty, Hegde said he had no occasion to do so, but hastened to add that he and Shetty are both sail in the same boat now being independents, after being identified with national parties earlier.

"Altruism is in my blood. Victory and defeat never change my inborn nature to serve people. Activists of all the parties visit me at my home, discuss issues with me affectionately, and get their work done through me. I continue to help people, knowing fully well that these initiatives never turn into votes for me," he narrated.

He felt that it is for the elected representatives to be conscious of what they are saying or doing, as voters have special status in a democratic set up. He termed as shameful the recent statements of Udupi MLA, Pramod Madhwaraj, that MLAs have no other option but to receive money from government servants, and his assertion that legislators are collecting money because voters are corrupt.

He expressed surprise at the fact that none of the legislators from the state or people's representatives have objected to Pramod's claim that legislators seek money from government employees because voters are corrupt, and that legislators have no other go but to recover money from officials. He called upon voters to decide at least now how they want the democratic system to function.

"I am totally at a loss to decipher what Madhwaraj has been speaking of late. "He said that with his efforts, grants worth Rs 1,300 crore had been sanctioned to his constituency, and that he would have earned Rs 130 crore if he had collected ten percent of this as commission. This is shameful. If he is honest and sincere, how could he know about ten percent business? From where this figure of Rs 1,300 crore is arrived at? Let him provide a list under which heads this amount has flowed into his constituency,"he challenged. He also called upon political parties to stop misleading the people at least now,duly sounding a warning that unless they opt to do this, people will uncover their masks of selfishness in the coming days.