Mangaluru : Former Karkala constituency Congress MLA, Gopal Bhandary(66), died due to cardiac arrest on Thursday, July 4.

Gopal Bhandary was travelling from Bengaluru by Volvo bus which left there at 2 pm. After the bus reached Mangaluru, bus conductor realised that there was something wrong with Gopala Bhandary as he was not responding. He called the police and they found that Gopal Bhandary was no more.

His body has been taken to Winlock Hospital.

Gopal Bhandary first became MLA in 1999 by defeating K P Shenoy of BJP. He contested 2004 elections but lost to V Sunil Kumar of BJP. However Gopal Bhandary emerged victorious again in 2008. He was defeated by V Sunil Kumar of BJP in 2013. Again he lost to V Sunil Kumar in 2018.