He is finding it an uphill task to campaign for himself though he says he is confident of winning from Harapanahalli, Davangere district.

The BJP threw a surprise at Congress candidate Prakash by suddenly deciding to field Bellary MP and mining tycoon Karunakara Reddy to contest from Harapanahalli. Now Prakash is not only fighting the polls in a new constituency but also one time acquaintance, Reddy.

In a chat with Asha Krishnaswamy of Deccan Herald on Sunday, Prakash said, “I have lots of friends in all parties including the BJP.  But in Harapanahalli I am taking on BJP candidate Karunkara Reddy.”

Why is he finding the going tough? Pat comes the reply, “I am fighting against a mine owner whose income is not less than Rs 5 crore a day. Can I ever compete money wise with such a businessman? Bihar commandos all the time move around him. The Reddy family and his associates have monopolised Bellary district”.
The Reddys are into filmi style of campaigning and there is total influence of Andhra culture on Bellary. The neo-rich mine owners are spending money recklessly, he rues.

He also pointed out that western taluks of Bellary has no influence of AP. There is no influence of Naxals in the west unlike on Bellary.

Asked then what would be his USP, Prakash said, “ Financially I cannot compete with Reddy. In addition, after the delimitation I have lost my home constituency Hadagali. But Chitageri, which was earlier part of Hadagali is now part of Harpanahalli. There are 54,000 voters here and they know me well. I am sure they will back me”.
Have voters accepted him as Congress candidate?

 “That is not an issue. I have won four times as MLA and lost three times. My father was MLA twice. I have changed my symbol five times - once it was farmer carrying a plough, other times it was a wheel, an arrow, a woman carrying a hay stack and now it is a hand. So, changing the party or symbol will not be an issue.”
 “The Reddys do have an upper hand because of the money power. But, I have people with me”, he claims.