Consensus ache in hills ...JAP out of selecting consensus candidate

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 14 Mar 2019, Darjeeling: The Jana Andolan Party, one of the hill parties involved in the search of a non-TMC, non-BJP consensus candidate, has decided to pull out of the process.

Harka Bahadur Chhetri, president, JAP, said constituent partners were campaigning for their own respective candidates instead of trying to evolve a consensus candidate.

"The constituent partners virtually campaigned for their own candidates. The exercise for a consensus candidate started almost a month back but things are not moving smoothly," said Chhetri.

Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) has already named party president and former Darjeeling MP R.B. Rai as its candidate.

The GNLF is batting for Munish Tamang, a professor in Delhi University. Mahendra P. Lama, founding vicechancellor of Sikkim University, is the second choice. The name of C.K. Shrestha, a political analyst, is also in the reckoning.

JAP chief Chhetri clarified that he was opting out of the selection process to make it easier for other parties to come up with a consensus candidate.

"This time, the election is not just about the MP but about our community. That is why the JAP will not be involved in the selection but if other parties evolve a consensus candidate, we will support," said Chhetri.

JAP said if the constituents of the forum fail to find such a candidate, it will chart its own course.

The CPM has set a March 15 deadline for the finalisation of the candidate, failing which it has also warned of go its own way. The CPM wants the hillbased parties, which include the GNLF, CPRM, JAP and the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (Bharati Tamang), to finalise the candidate.

Ajoy Edwards, a GNLF leader, said a major problem in the selection was the diametrically opposite stands taken by some constituents on the candidate's profile. "We are saying let's have apolitical persons. The other parties, however, maintain the candidate must be from one of the political parties or else there would be no control over the candidate in future," Edwards said.

Other GNLF leaders have declared they will be committed till the last moment to get the consensus candidate initiative to work.

"The disenchantment over the selection is out in the open. This will raise questions whether the JAP will throw all its weight behind the consensus candidate if such a person is finally agreed on," said an observer.