Trinamul eye on hill seat

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, Kalimpong, Feb. 2: The hill Trinamul Congress has said it will field a candidate for the Darjeeling seat in the Lok Sabha polls and there was no question of supporting aspirants backed by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha or any other party.

Rajen Mukhia, president of the hill Trinamul, said: “The hill leadership had discussed the matter with our party’s national secretary, Mukul Roy, in Calcutta on Friday. We agreed on the need to field our own candidate from the hills. If the Morcha decides to support our candidate, they are welcome.”

Sanjok Gupta, spokesperson of hill Trinamul’s Kalimpong subdivision committee, said: “We want our party to field a bhumiputra. We may even agree on a suitable candidate from the plains if the party decides. But extending support to a Morcha candidate will not be acceptable.

The Morcha will hold a meeting on February 5 to discuss the candidate for the seat.