Bhutia confident of emerging as winning candidate from Darj

SNS, Raiganj, 18 March 2014: Trinamul Congress candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat Baichung Bhutia today said he will be ‘number one’ in the elections in Darjeeling.

As part of his election campaign, Mr Bhutia today reached Chopra in North Dinajpur district, which falls under the Darjeeling constituency.

North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb and TMC MLA of Chopra Hamidul Rahaman accompanied Mr Bhutia as he addressed a rally at the Chopra football ground.

“The Indian football team taught me how to work hard for success. I have made a commitment to the voters that I will work hard for the development of Darjeeling. Most of the people in both the Hills and the plains will bless me in the elections,” the former captain of the Indian football team said.

“There is no Modi wave in the Darjeeling Hills. All that is there is the Mamata wave. As such, the BJP will not be a factor there,” he added.

The dominant party in the Hills, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM), has decided to support BJP’s Darjeeling constituency candidate SS Ahluwalia in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Mr Deb said that in the last two-and-a-half-year rule of the TMC in the state, “we introduced so many developments in Chopra region. To vote for Baichung Bhutia means to cast vote for Miss Mamata Banarjee. We urge the voters to vote for Baichung for the sake of development.”