By IANS,
Darjeeling : Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), an outfit run by the Gorkha community in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district, Friday said it will not support Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former union minister Jaswant Singh in the Lok Sabha election.
Singh is fighting the April-May election from Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency with the support of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) – now the principal political party in the hills.
“If BJP candidate Jaswant Singh would not contest from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, we might have a different stand then. We want someone from the hills itself who would represent us in the Lok Sabha,” ABGL general secretary Laxman Pradhan said.
He said that his party will disclose its stand and further course of action April 13.
“The BJP has sent no letter to us seeking our support for their candidate in the hills,” he said.
Meanwhile, the GJM, which is spearheading a movement for a separate Gorkhaland state in the region, has also fielded their own candidate Tilak Dewan in case Singh is barred from the contest for doling out cash during a political gathering in Rajasthan.
The senior BJP leader was accused of distributing currency notes in violation of the model code of conduct during an election meeting at Gagaria village in Barmer district where he had gone to campaign for his son Manvendra Singh recently.