Trouble brews in ranks, West Bengal BJP leaders called to Delhi
Times of India | 18 March 2024
SILIGURI/KOLKATA: BJP's central leadership has summoned Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari to New Delhi to attend Monday's Central Election Committee meeting to finalise the remaining 23 Lok Sabha candidates for Bengal. On Sunday morning, BJP observers spoke to state leaders in a virtual meeting as the party grappled with some big names eyeing these seats.
While sources said that former HC judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay was in contention for the Tamluk seat, Tapas Roy was eyeing Kolkata North after defecting from TMC. On the other hand, Arjun Singh has already made a claim to the Barrackpore seat. BJP has still not declared whether Dilip Ghosh will be fighting from Midnapore and who will replace Pawan Singh, the Bhojpuri singer who backed off from the race in Asansol.
Ahead of the CEC meeting, unease has also gripped BJP ranks in Darjeeling - a seat the party has been winning since 2009. After Kurseong MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma threatened to fight from Darjeeling as an Independent if BJP did not nominate a "bhumiputra" (son of the soil), Darjeeling's BJP MLA Neeraj Zimba on Saturday threatened to do the same if sitting MP Raju Bista was not renominated by BJP. John Barla, a former junior Union minister who has been denied renomination in Alipurduar LS seat, is also camping in Delhi.
On Monday morning, central observers Sunil Bansal, Mangal Pandey, Asha Lakra and Amit Malviya would sit in a meeting with the state leaders. This would be followed by the CEC meeting in the evening. BJP sources indicated that the third list was likely to be announced by Tuesday. While Adhikari left for New Delhi on Sunday, Majumdar was likely to reach Delhi on Monday morning.
Claiming Darjeeling was a seat BJP was expected to win "hands down", Zimba said: "If sitting MP Raju Bista is denied a ticket by BJP in Darjeeling, I will fight as an Independent candidate as a mark of protest. There should not be any debate over Bista's nomination. He won the seat by a 4-lakh margin. Why the delay (in naming Bista)? Bista has been working for the Gorkhas and has been vocal about them in Parliament."
According to sources, Zimba's outburst came with the name of former foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla coming up as the Darjeeling candidate. Sh-ringla, whose parents have roots in Darjeeling, floated an NGO in 2023 that works in Darjeeling. Also India's G-20 presidency's chief coordinator, Shringla has never spoken about contesting polls.
"Many names are coming up and this should not happen in the Hills. Bista has worked for the Hills. Even PM Narendra Modi had referred to the fact that the Gorkha identity issue is being worked on. We did not get a Political Permanent Solution, we did not get ST status for 11 Hill communities but denying a ticket to Bista will be a bit too much," Zimba said.