No internal democracy in Congress: JP Hegde reacts to party’s action

December 15, 2015

Udupi, Dec 15: Former Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP K Jayaprakash Hegde, who was expelled from the Congress party for six years for contesting as a rebel from the Udupi-Dakshina Kannada Local Bodies Constituency for Legislative Council has slammed the double standard of party leaders.

Reacting to his expulsion from the party on Monday, Mr Hegde said that the Congress had been unfair in expelling him from the organization.

He said that he had lodged a complaint and sought action against the official Congress candidate Pratapchandra Shetty for being inactive and not working for the party in Vidhana Sabha and Lok Sabha elections and recently concluded Gram Panchayat elections.

“Instead they have expelled me. This shows their double standards. There is one rule for Mr. Shetty and another rule for me. This shows there is no internal democracy in the party,” he said.

Mr. Hegde said he had been forced by the party workers to stand for the elections as they were fed up of Mr. Shetty. “But, it is only after Mr. Shetty had stated that he did not want to contest for a third time that I had put my hat into the ring. What wrong have I done to invite disciplinary action?” he said.

Meanwhile, Congress workers questioned the behaviour of senior leaders at a meeting held to Mr. Pratapchandra Shetty by the Kota Block Congress Committee at Kota in Udupi district on Monday.

Party workers disrupted the campaign meeting and asked some sharp questions. Srinivas Amin, a Congress leader, said the senior leaders of the party only remembered the party workers when the elections were nearing.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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