Dilip hill slur on Trinamul... "Mamata Banerjee's party trying to gain control in the hills through backdoors" -Ghosh

TT, Siliguri: BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said on Saturday that the Trinamul Congress had "become desperate" to gain control in the hills "through the backdoor".

Ghosh, who arrived in Siliguri to attend the state conference of the SC Morcha, one of the frontal organisations of the party, also said that the Trinamul government had adopted the policy of putting people in "important positions" to secure control in the hills.

Ghosh was obliquely referring to Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa, whom the government has named the chairman and vice-chairman of the board of administrators to run the GTA.

"Mamata Banerjee's party has lost in the Parliament seat of Darjeeling district and could not win a single Assembly seat in the district so far. This is why, she and her party leaders have become desperate and are now trying to gain control in the hills through backdoors," Ghosh said.

In Darjeeling district, Trinamul has never won in Parliament elections. At the Assembly polls, the party had bagged the Siliguri seat in 2011 but in 2016, it could not win any of the seats. It also failed to secure majority in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad.

It is only in this year that Trinamul could bag the Mirik municipality in the hills.

Told about Ghosh's remarks, a Trinamul leader said: "It is clear that the BJP has always tried to foment tension in the hills. Some leaders of the party are making baseless comments and trying to do politics. Their intentions would not work as the hill people have realised how the BJP has duped them."