Political Bigwigs to make a Beeline for the Darjeeling Constituency to Campaig

Wepen, April 2, 2019: With the importance of the Darjeeling Parliamentary constituency in Bengal politics, political heavyweights are making a beeline to the constituency. From Prime Minister Modi, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Congress President Rahul Gandhi to CPIM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury all are scheduled to hold campaign rallies here.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing a campaign rally at Kawakhali, Siliguri on April 3 at 11 am. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be present at an election campaign rally at the Motor Stand in Darjeeling on April 11.

INC President Rahul Gandhi is slated to address a rally either on April 13 or 14. The venue could be either the Ila Pal Chowdhury ground in Sukna or the Motor Stand in Darjeeling. The CPIM national general secretary Sitaram Yechury will address a Left Front campaign rally at the Darjeeling Motor Stand on April 13.

The Darjeeling constituency comprises of 7 assembly segments including 3 in the hills and 4 in the plains. Out of the 7 segments, 5 segments are in the Darjeeling district, 1 in Kalimpong and 1 in North Dinajpur district.

While the main poll battle is between the TMC and BJP in this constituency, the other political parties in the fray exercise control over certain segments of the constituency thereby making the constituency very important for all.

The BJP had got a political toehold in Bengal through this constituency in 2009. Supported by the undivided Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM – a party in power in the hills) the BJP heavyweight Jaswant Singh had bagged a landslide victory. There was a repeat of this again in 2014 with another BJP heavyweight SS Ahluwalia, backed by the GJM again winning the seat.

This year while TMC is battling it out to rest the seat from the clutches of the saffron brigade, the BJP is trying its best to retain the seat. Political equations have however changed drastically this time. The GJM has undergone a vertical split with the majority faction being led by Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa. The other faction still owes allegiance to Bimal Gurung, who is absconding charged in multiple cases.

While the GJM (Binay) has lent its weight behind the TMC, the Bimal faction has decided to go along with the BJP. The Gorkha National Front that had earlier had an alliance with the TMC has decided to back the BJP this time.

The three assembly segments namely Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong have GJM MLAs; the Siliguri segment has a Left Front MLA; the Matigara-Naxalbari and Phansidewa segments have INC MLAs and the Chopra has a TMC MLA.

With these political equations prevailing all the political parties have been eyeing the seat. The constituency will be going to polls on April 18. It has a voter strength of 1437126 (737184 males and 699942 females.)

Already campaigning is on with wall writings, street corners, rallies and road shows. The visit of the bigwigs is to further boost the poll tempo.