Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, September 26
The vehicle of Gupteshwar Pandey, the former police chief of Bihar, had a different look when it sneaked into the Janata Dal United (JDU) headquarters on Saturday.
Instead of three-star, the flag in the SUV had a JDU flag with a picture of chief minister Nitish Kumar. Pandey called on Kumar to discuss the party ticket to contest the ensuing state polls, but walked out reportedly without getting any word from the boss.
The former DGP who called himself a disciple (Shishya) of Nitish Kumar said he had come to meet the chief minister to thank him for his support during his tenure as the head of Bihar police. He said he would announce his decision to join the party and the constituency from where he might contest.
“It is still undecided,” he said after meeting the JDU president.
Pandey who described Nitish Kumar as the best CM said he had solved the problem of Bijli, Sadak and Paani (Electricity, roads and water) and successfully led the prohibition campaign. Pandey claimed he has a vast following all over the state as he served in 26 districts.
Pandey is expected to start his campaign on October 1 from Buxar. He told his supporters that he would be visiting Buxar and Begusarai next week. He is a native of Buxar and served as SP in Begusarai.
Buxar had been traditionally a Brahmin dominated constituency as in the past, all the candidates elected were from the upper caste whether in the Congress or BJP. Former Minister Jagnaraian Trivedi and his father were elected on Congress tickets half a dozen terms and later Ms Sukhda Pandey, a member of the first national executive committee of BJP since 1980 was elected thrice.
The former Bihar’s top cop had tried to contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2009. He had tendered his resignation from the post of Inspector General of Police (IGP) but later withdrew when he was denied ticket.
Pandey is putting a series of speeches on his achievements through social media and even one of his supporters Deepak Thakur, a participant in Big Boss has released cassette DGP Robin Hood in local dialect which has become popular in the state.
He came into the political limelight in July by attacking Mumbai police and politicians of Maharashtra on SSR death investigation.