Bihar elections 2020: Gupteshwar Pandey’s chances in the Bihar elections are now under a cloud.
Mumbai:
Former Bihar Police Chief Gupteshwar Pandey was denied a ticket to contest the upcoming state assembly elections, likely after he raised questions about the former officer, Maharashtra Interior Minister Anil Deshmukh commented sarcastically today. . Pandey, who joined Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) after resigning from the force last month, was left off the party’s candidate list released yesterday.
On Tuesday, Deshmukh had directed a question to the leader of the Maharashtra BJP, Devendra Fadnavis, who is in charge of managing the party’s campaign in Bihar. “I want to ask Devendra Fadnavis if he will campaign for Mr Pandey, a man who insulted Maharashtra,” Maharashtra’s interior minister had said at a press conference.
“Whether or not to give a ticket to Gupteshwar Pandey is an internal matter. He had asked the BJP leaders if they would campaign for him. Perhaps that was the reason he was denied the ticket,” Deshmukh said today with a smile.
The Director General of Police (DGP) in Bihar until then, Mr. Pandey chose to voluntarily retire from service on September 22, five months before completing his official term. Five days later, on September 27, he joined state ruler JD (U) after the mandatory three-month reflection period for him to join politics was suspended.
The former DGP was then widely believed to be the JD (U) candidate from his hometown of Buxar for the Bihar elections from 28 October.
This move by JD (U) was widely criticized by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), as well as by Congress, part of Maharashtra’s ruling mix.
Earlier, on September 28, Congress had also raised similar issues. “It will be quite painful if BJP ally JD (U) gives a ticket to Gupteshwar Pandey, who had insulted Mumbai police and defamed Maharashtra, at a time when Devendra Fadnavisji is BJP’s Bihar in charge. “Party spokesman Sachin Sawant tweeted.
These comments concerned Pandey’s role in the investigation into the case of the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput in Mumbai in June. The former DGP accused the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai police of trying to scuttle the Bihar police investigation into the Rajput’s death.
However, when JD (U) ‘s seat sharing agreement with BJP was announced, Buxar’s seat went to BJP, raising questions about Pandey’s chances.
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