Bhaichung best candidate for Darjeeling: Mamata

Prashant Acharya, EOI, Naxalbari, 25 March 2014: peaking at a public meeting this afternoon at Nanda Prasad Girls High School in Naxalbari, TMC chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to voters bit to “cast a single vote for the BJP as it is trying to divide Bengal”.

She said, “Let the BJP dare to separate Bengal, I challenge no one can do it and I don’t fear Delhi, If I was afraid, I would have died long back. The BJP had earlier tried to divide Bengal by bringing Jaswant Singh to Darjeeling but could not do anything. He was useless for Darjeeling and this time again the BJP is trying the same ploy, but do not cast a single vote for the party.”

Banerjee claimed she was the one who brought peace to Darjeeling after long disturbances. “Leaders of the hills visited Delhi several times, but if they had come to meet me in Kolkata there could have been lots of development in the hills,” she said.

Promoting the TMC candidate, the chief minister said the best candidate for Darjeeling in the Lok Sabha election is Bhaichung Bhutia since he is qualified in several fields. She noted that when Bhaichung was playing for the nation, everyone expressed pride, but when he is contesting from Darjeeling now, why do people describe him as an outsider. According to Banerjee, there is no difference between the hills of Sikkim and Darjeeling as all are brothers and sisters for her.

Speaking on the GTA, she said she has allotted considerable funds for development, and it is now the duty of GTA members to implement and make use of the money. She said, “I have given them the money, but this does not mean I need to do all the work.”

Further, the chief minister said she has approved of granting tribal status to 10 communities of the hills, sanctioned Rs500 crore for a drinking water project for Darjeeling and Rs200 crore for a bridge along the Rangli-Teesta rivers.

During her 42-minute long speech, Banerjee also didn’t spare the CPM and the Congress. She said the CPM government during its tenure of 34 years did nothing for the poor compared to what the TMC had done in just 30 months.

According to Banerjee, Bengal had always remained a victim of the Congress government. A lot of funds are still pending in the Centre as the Congress government does not want to sanction them for Bengal. She held Bhaichung’s hand and appealed to vote for him.