JD(U) MLA Gopal Mandal
NEW DELHI: Upset over not receiving a call after the seat-sharing finalisation among the parties in the NDA, ruling JD(U)’s MLA Gopal Mandal sat on the ground outside chief minister Nitish Kumar’s house.Mandal sat outside Nitish Kumar’s residence over his demand to meet the CM to get an election ticket from the Gopalpur assembly constituency in the upcoming Bihar elections.”I want to meet the CM. I have been waiting here since 08:30 hours. I will get the election ticket. I won’t go without getting it, Mandal told news agency ANI. The Gopalpur MLA had been embroiled in controversies for several reasons in the past that caused embarrassment to the party.In 2021, Mandal was seen walking in his undergarments in one of the first class AC coaches of the Tejas Rajdhani Express while travelling to Delhi from the state capital.The matter became public after a picture of scantily clad Mandal walking in the train, went viral on different social media platforms, bringing a disrepute to his party.Earlier that year, the JD(U) sought an explanation from Mandal for “accusing deputy chief minister and BJP leader Tarkishore Prasad of collecting extortion money from businessmen of Bhagalpur.” Two weeks ago, the deputy CM visited Bhagalpur to hold a review meeting. A day after the deputy CM’s visit, Mandal alleged, “Prasad frequently visited Bhagalpur to “collect extortion money” from shop owners and demanded a probe into the matter.” Then, Mandal had also demanded the deputy CM’s resignation.Earlier in March 2016, JD(U)’s then state president Bashishtha Narain Singh had suspended Mandal from the party after the latter threatened to resort to the “politics of murder” to eliminate his rivals. At a public function, Mandal had then said, “Main ab hatya ki rajniti hi karunga aur hatya karwaunga” (I will indulge in politics of murder and execute people).” NDA on Sunday announced its seat-sharing for the Bihar Assembly elections. Under the arrangement, the BJP and JDU will contest 101 seats each. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will contest 29 seats, while the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLM) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) will contest six seats each.The Bihar Assembly elections are scheduled in two phases, on 6 and 11 November 2025, with vote counting planned for 14 November 2025.
