Bharatiya Janata Party Darjeeling candidate Raju Bista

Raju Bista also spoke about the allegedly poor condition of tea gardens in Bengal

Darjeeling:

After polling for three seats in North Bengal in the opening phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Darjeeling candidate Raju Bista on Sunday said that people living in the northern parts of the state People never supported the ruling TMC and will do the same in these areas. The same goes for elections.

“Seeing the atmosphere here, it feels almost certain that I will become the Darjeeling MP for the second time. Last time the margin was four lakh and this time the BJP will win the seat with a bigger margin. That’s because people from the hills have never We have supported the ruling TMC or the successive governments in the state, so the ruling party in the state has been wronging us and giving them a due answer for the past 15 years will do the same this time,” Raju Bista said. day told ANI.

Darjeeling has been a BJP bastion since 2009. TMC has never won this constituency.

Reminding Trinamool Congress of the movement for a separate Gorkhaland state, Darjeeling witnessed widespread violence during 2017, Raju Bista said TMC never had any concerns about North Bengal elections Opponents pose a challenge.

“TMC has never raised a challenge in North Bengal. Gopal Lama is a good man but he chose the wrong symbol. This is because the Gorkha people cannot stand this symbol. 11 people lost their lives due to this symbol in 2017. There is blood on it and even today people can see it in their campaign? He is doing politics by hiding his party flag,” the BJP MP said.

Elaborating further on the Bengal government’s neglect of Darjeeling, Raju Bista said: “Mamata Didi will not get a single seat in North Bengal. This is because she collects more than 20 per cent from us. revenue, but set aside 20% of the budget allocation” of Rs 400 crore, of which only Rs 400 crore was spent. “

For Anit Thapa, president of the Indian Gorkha Prajatan Trik Morcha (BGPM), who has been campaigning for TMC candidate Gopal Lama in Darjeeling, Raju Bee Raju Bista said: “Anit Thapa is confusing. That’s because he is campaigning as a candidate without Gopal Lama. People are confused about who to vote for because he is campaigning Campaigning under a different symbol, he is trying to strengthen his party.”

Accusing Anit Thapa of indulging in corruption in Darjeeling, Raju Bista said: “There was massive corruption under Anit Thapa. He There have been multiple scams in areas such as education, ‘Har Ghar Jal’ scheme and Prime Minister Awas Yojana, who has transferred powers to municipalities and panchayats.” After April 25, the CBI will begin. investigation. “

“We are facing double corruption from TMC and GTA,” he added.

Referring to the alleged poor condition of tea gardens in West Bengal, Raju Bista accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of conspiring to shut down tea gardens.

“The situation in our tea gardens is serious. Mamata Didi wants our tea gardens to be shut down so that she can sell the land to the mafia who will build big buildings here. This is her plan but we don’t “She will succeed.” In 2021, the central government enacted a law mandating a minimum wage of Rs 350 for tea garden workers, which also strengthened their rights over the land, but Mamata Didi did not implement it here. law. “explain.

On the work done by the central government in Darjeeling, Raju Bista said: “In Darjeeling, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, Rs 50,000 crore has been invested in infrastructure development. In the past 10 years, we have seen what happened here significant changes.”

“During the pandemic, when people were in dire straits, we received two doses of the vaccine. People also received 5kg of rice for free. This will continue for five years, until 2029, if we are elected. We also received Har Ghar Jal plans to allocate Rs 3,500 crore to build a 5,000-km stretch of road under Gram Sadak Yojana, which we have not seen in the past 75 years since independence.”

Talking about the solution to the Gorkha issue in Darjeeling, the BJP candidate said, “In 2021, Bimal Gurung (founder of Gorkha Jamukti Morcha) was forced to While siding with the TMC, deep down, however, he was siding with the BJP. A few days later, Prime Minister Modi said in Siliguri that our government at the Center has solved many complex problems and we have. A solution to the Gurkha problem is about to be found.”

Elaborating further on the priorities of the constituency after being re-elected, Raju Bista said: “We have several issues that need to be addressed. One of them is to reach a permanent constitutional solution… Some were excluded from the table Scheduled tribes outside the list should implement some development projects in the next five years.”

“Health facilities in Bangladesh are very poor. I will focus more on this area. Secondly, Darjeeling and Kalimpong used to be educational hubs. There is a need to open more central institutions here,” he added.

Coming down heavily on the Mamata Banerjee government for allegedly neglecting tourism in Darjeeling, Raju Bista said there was a need to focus on youth employment in his constituency.

“Thirdly, I will focus on employment of youth as the tea estates are closing down. There is no tourism activity here. There is lack of infrastructure required to attract tourists. The Bangladesh government’s contribution to this sector is almost zero. I want to master the skills of our Youth and give them employment in tourism, MSMEs and start-ups,” said Raju Bista.

Raju Bista also came down hard on the TMC for allegedly smuggling drugs through the “Chicken Neck”, a narrow strip of land connecting the northeastern part of Bengal with the rest of the country, “where crime and illegal activities have increased significantly” . Drugs are infiltrating schools, colleges and universities here and our teenagers are becoming distraught and need to get back on track. “

Darjeeling is scheduled to hold voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 26.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)