BJP MLA threatens to contest LS election as independent if local candidate not fielded from Darjeeling

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Kurseong Assembly seat Bishnu Pada Sharma on Wednesday urged the top leadership of the BJP to field a local candidate from Darjeeling Lok Sabha, and threatened to contest the polls from the seat as an independent candidate if the party nominates an ‘outsider’ to contest the polls.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Kurseong Assembly seat Bishnu Prasad Sharma on Wednesday urged the top leadership of the BJP to field a local candidate from Darjeeling Lok Sabha, and threatened to contest the polls from the seat as an independent candidate if the party nominates an ‘outsider’ to contest the polls.

Mr. Sharma, who has been vocal on the demand of creation of Gorkhaland, since he was elected to the State Assembly in 2021 said that “outsiders are not sensitive to issues of people of Darjeeling”.

“For the past 20 years, from Dawa Narbulla (2004-2009) of the Congress to three BJP MPs - Jaswant Singh (2009-2014), S.S. Ahluwalia (2014-2019), and Raju Bista (2019-2024) we did not have any local resident as the MP of Darjeeling. Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] calls people to be vocal for locals and I am trying to voice that,” the MLA told The Hindu over telephone.

Mr. Sharma said that if the BJP fields any person from the Darjeeling hills as a Lok Sabha candidate then he will campaign for the candidate and try to ensure the victory. “But if the BJP again fields an outsider then I will contest the Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidate,” the Kurseong MLA said.

The sitting Darjeeling MP Raju Bista is from Gorkha community but he hails from Manipur. Ahead of Lok Sabha polls Mr. Bista has started frequently visiting the constituency in the northern tip of the State. There are speculations that the BJP may field a senior bureaucrat from the seat in 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The remarks by the BJP MLA has created a discomfort about the West Bengal BJP leadership. The BJP MLA from Siliguri Sankar Ghosh said that Mr. Sharma should raise such issues inside the party forum and not publicly. Siliguri in the foothills of Darjeeling hills is also part of Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat.

Over the past few decades the issue of creation of a separate State of Gorkhaland has dominated the politics of Darjeeling hills. In 2017 the hills witnessed a violent agitation for 100 days leaving about 11 people dead over the demand of Gorkhaland.