Dasharath Manjhi's son to seek Congress ticket to contest Bihar Assembly polls

'Mountain Man' Dasharath Manjhi's son Bhagirath, who recently quit Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) to join the Congress, on Friday disclosed that he wanted a party ticket in the upcoming assembly polls.

Bhagirath spoke to PTI ahead of Gandhi's visit to Beldaur, the village to which his legendary father belonged.

He said, "You can look at our house. We still do not have a pucca house. The first thing that I would like to request Rahul Gandhi is to provide us with a pucca house".


He also seemed unimpressed with the gesture shown by Nitish Kumar in the lifetime of his father, by getting the Dalit mason seated on his own chair.

"What benefit did my father and his family get from that show? Of course, Nitish Kumar may have got some brownie points", said the embittered son.

Dashrath Manjhi earned fame for his feet of flattening a hill, just with a hammer and a chisel, after his wife stumbled while bringing him food from their home. It took several years for Manjhi, who passed away in 2007, to achieve his goal which reduced by over 40 km the distance between two administrative blocks of the district of Gayaji.

The poignant life story also inspired a biopic "Manjhi - The Mountain Man" in which the titular role was played by National Award-winning actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

Bhagirath, who was inducted into JD(U) last year, but joined the Congress in February this year, weeks after attending Gandhi's 'Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan' in Patna, also said he would seek a ticket in the polls which are barely a few months away.

He said, with candour, "When Rahul Gandhi comes here, I am going to ask him for a party ticket from Bodh Gaya".

Named after the international Buddhist pilgrim town, Bodh Gaya happens to be a reserved constituency. The seat is currently held by the RJD, the Congress' senior ally in Bihar.