BJP MLA Indirectly Blames Party Member for Poor Results in Bengal Panchayat Polls

Vishnu Prasad Sharma, the BJP MLA from West Bengal's Kurseong Assembly constituency, has indirectly blamed party member from Darjeeling Raju Singh Bista for the poor results in the recently-held panchayat elections.

The poor results of the party and its allies in the hills in the recent rural civic body polls are because of the false promises made by a section of the outsiders who had been dumped on the people of the hills. Their false promises have maligned the image of the party among the people of the hills. Precisely, that is why I was reluctant to participate in the rural civic body polls,” Sharma said on Monday morning.

He also claimed that there had not been enough initiative by the central’s leadership about the permanent political solution in the hills.

“A permanent political solution in the hills was the principal promise of our party in the successive elections. That promise is yet to be fulfilled. Mere promises will not work out as those promises need to be fulfilled,” he said.

He also clarified that his statements were not against his party but leaders coming from outside and making false promises.

In the panchayat polls, voting took place for only gram panchayat and panchayat samiti in Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

As the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) is in overall charge of the civic administrative affairs in the hills, there were no polls for zilla parishad level -- the highest in the three-tier panchayat system in West Bengal.

In those polls, Anit Thapa- ed Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), with support from the Trinamool Congress, claimed victory in both Darjeeling and Kalimpong.