LS polls: Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha to reach out to grassroots leaders
Telegraph | 19 January 2024
Prominent hill party Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) has developed a strategy to reach out to grassroots leaders to consolidate its base ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
The party has started holding meetings with its elected gram panchayat and panchayat samiti members and asking them to visit every household in the area in the days to come.
The hills in July 2023 elected panchayat members for the first time in 23 years. Sources said that the BGPM is looking at consolidating its position through the party's elected village-level representatives.
On Thursday, the party held a meeting with elected representatives in Bijanbari.
“We have coined a slogan that the politics (of the hills) should be based on actual delivery. We are telling our elected representatives that they should go and reach out to every household and inform them of our actual performance,” said Satish Pokhrel, the vice-president of the BGPM.
The Anit Thapa-led BGPM managed to convince the state government to hold panchayat elections for the first time since 2000. The party is also trying to grant land rights and is looking to put in place a number of administrative systems like teacher recruitment examinations in the hills.
“After the panchayat elections were held, the party seems to believe that it reach out to people with the delivery slogan, especially at a time when the BJP has not delivered on its 2019 Lok Sabha poll promises,” said an observer.
The BGPM organised a meeting with the elected representatives from rural areas in Sukhiapokhri on Wednesday. “We will soon hold similar meetings in Kurseong, Mirik and Kalimpong,” said Pokhrel.
Party leaders also maintained that these gatherings would also provide an opportunity to clear any misgivings among the elected representatives. “It is natural for such misgivings to arise among party leaders. These things happen in a family,” said Pokhrel.
Thapa, the party president and also the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), also attended the Bijanbari meeting but evaded a direct question on the 2024 elections.
Asked if this exercise was a preparation for the Lok Sabha election, Thapa said: “Once we plan our preparations, we will let you know.”
Thapa, however, added that he had come to meet his party leaders. “I met them personally and also apprised them about various administrative issues regarding the GTA. People have voted for us and one has to work well for their welfare,” said Thapa.
During the Bijanbari meeting, the BGPM also appointed seven presidents for each of the GTA constituencies.