Will examine Gorkhaland demand first: Ahluwalia

SNS, SILIGURI, 5 APRIL: The BJP vice-president and Lok Sabha poll candidate for the Darjeeling constituency, SS Ahluwalia, today said his party has made it clear that it will ‘examine and appropriately consider the long pending demand of the Gorkhas, tribals and other people of Darjeeling and the Dooars region.’

The reiteration from Mr Ahluwalia comes at a time when the dominant party in Darjeeling hills, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) has been claiming that the BJP is ready to meet the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

The GJMM is supporting Mr Ahluwalia in the upcoming elections.

“Everything will be done as per the constitution. We will examine the documents first. Without examining the papers, you cannot do anything,” Mr Ahluwalia told journalists in a breakfast-meeting he held at a hotel in Matigara near Siliguri.

He also said his party will never strike “any form of alliance” with the Trinamul Congress led by Mamata Banerjee. He was indicating at a post-poll scenario at the Centre where the BJP may need support from other parties to form a government if it emerges the largest party in the Lok Sabha elections.

With a section of the people and other parties terming him an ‘outsider,’ he said he did not want to fight this election as a tourist in Darjeeling.

According to Mr Ahluwalia, who was born in Asansol, West Bengal, it was only after he took a house on ‘lease’ at 9-Hermitage Road in Darjeeling that he went to file his nomination for the polls, and explained how this wish led him to problems finding a house within a short space of time he had in hand.