Kolkata, 05th November: After the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha won 31 out of 32 seats in the last 2017 elections held in Darjeeling Municipality, 17 municipality councillors joined the BJP on June 1, 2019.
During a press conference in Kolkata today, the said councillors returned to the GJM- Bimal faction, accusing the BJP of not meeting their demands. They were welcomed by party president Bimal Gurung himself who handed over the party flag.
“We were with NDA for 17 years, but BJP didn’t fulfil commitments. Seeing that Mamata Banerjee fulfils promises, we’ll support her in 2021”, speaking at a press conference in Kolkata, GJM Chief Bimal Gurung, said.
In this context, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista said that the mentioned Municipality commissioners had quit GJM- Binay Tamang faction supported by the Trinamool Congress-led board and joined the GJM – Bimal Gurung faction. However, later, when West Bengal police allegedly started to harass them, they voluntarily joined BJP party.
“All through this process, the BJP party was neither consulted with nor did they take our input when leaving Binay faction and quitting Darjeeling Municipality board. Even today, they announced leaving BJP via a press conference, which is reflective of the fact that they had joined BJP for their personal convenience and are leaving for the same,” Bista added.