It's CPI(M) all the way in Darjeeling No upset in Darjeeling Midnapore Still with Indrajit Gupta Again Midnapore for CPI Trinamool Manifesto Howlers and howlers DiDi Relinquishing the DoctorHood

Pallab Rajguru

There is no doubt about the prospects of the CPI (M) in the Darjeeling seat. The party candidate, S.P. Lepcha, is a hillman and has come into politics from teaching. His biggest advantage, apart from the fact that he is close to the people of his constituency, is that his rivals are in disarray; the Congress has been able to finalise its candidate only a few days back while the BJP-Trinamool man has no ties with the region at all. Thus the question that begs an answer in the district is who will come second after Lepcha. Till a few days back, there was not even a whiff of any campaigning by the other candidates though posters, buntings and graffiti in favour of Lepcha have been in abundance. Lepcha has taken to extensive door-to-door campaigning on which the party is putting the campaign thrust this time. Since the last Lok Sabha elections, this area has gone to the polls for the Hill Council as well as the Siliguri municipality elections and these have only succeeded in exposing the BJP-Trinamool charade. Chief minister Jyoti Basu has already addressed meetings in the plains of Islampur and Siliguri and the stress is to hold smaller meetings to do away with possibilities of washouts because of the monsoons.

Kargil has become a major issue in the constituency and the people are asking uncomfortable questions to the BJP-Trinamool combine about whether the war has actually ended with body after body of hill jawans being brought in from the war front. Is the Prime Minister lying that there is peace at hand? That is a major question here and one answer which is not being given a satisfactory answer by anybody in the BJP.