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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Raju Bista on Saturday night held a meeting with hill party leaders including Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Bimal Gurung and Hamru Ajoy Edwards party chief ahead of the panchayat elections. Sources said the BJP along with other parties on the hills is considering forming an alliance against the ruling Congress party in Trinamool and its alliance partner Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM). Panchayat elections in West Bengal are scheduled to be held on July 8.
Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, where hill parties have a strong presence, have a two-tiered panchayat system while the rest of the state has a three-tiered panchayat system.
According to the leaders who attended the meeting, there are attempts to form an alliance of opposition hillside parties to create a “corruption-free” and “pro-development” local government in the hill regions.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting on Saturday, GJM Chairman Bimal Gurung said, “We had a discussion today. Nothing has been finalized yet.” Hamru party chief Ajoy Edwards refused to speak to the media after the meeting.
During an interaction with media people on Saturday, MP Raju Pesta of BJP Darjeeling said, “We have had a meeting with Bimal Gurung and Ajoy Edwards about the upcoming panchayat polls. We are trying to gather smaller outfits in the hills of North Bengal. The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) is also with us in the That matter. TMC and BGPM have betrayed the trust of the hill people.”
On the other hand, BGPM Chairman Anit Thapa, whose party won the Gorkha regional administration elections in the Darjeeling Hills last year, said each party has its own electoral strategy. “We also had meetings with our coalition partner (TMC). The opposition did too. It is normal for parties to have separate electoral strategies. Thapa said.
The TMC attacked the BJP for “doing nothing for the hill people”. Mamata Banerjee’s government ensured peace and democracy in the hills. I worked for development. “The BJP, although winning the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat since 2009, has done nothing for them,” said a senior TMC commander.
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