Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Gorkha Rashtriya Congress to contest 2014 Lok Sabha elections on Darj-Sikkim merger plank

PARTY FINALISES CANDIDATE FOR DARJ, SHORTLISTS NAMES FOR SIKKIM
GANGTOK, 16 Dec: The Gorkha Rashtriya Congress Committee [GRCC] of Darjeeling held a press conference here today to declare their candidate for the upcoming 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Darjeeling.
Chief coordinator of the committee, Subodh Pakhrin, informed that about a month ago, the core committee meeting of the GRCC was held in Darjeeling where the names of five people from the party were selected and the final candidate chosen to fight the MP elections from the party is Nima Lama, the GRCC party president.
The press conference here was addressed by Nima Lama [president], Amar Lucksom [general secretary] and Subodh Pakhrin [chief coordinator].
“Since Darjeeling is a part of Sikkim and vice versa, we thought that the people of Sikkim should also know about their chosen candidate for the elections. After holding further talks within the party, we will also be declaring a party candidate to fight for the elections from Gangtok for which three to four people have been shortlisted,” he stated.
In his address, the GRCC president argued that since Darjeeling and Dooars were lost territories of Sikkim, they have to be given back to Sikkim which is the main agenda of the party.
“It is time now for all intellectuals and politicians from Sikkim and Darjeeling to come forward and address this issue,” he said. This, he stated would only be possible if the Sikkim government takes strong action towards this end.
“Even former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, in 1978 had spoken about Darjeeling-Sikkim merger in Parliament. She had urged the Darjeeling District Congress Committee to create public opinion regarding the issue. During the Gorkhaland agitation in 1986, the then Jyoti Basu government had even taken out a white paper stating that Darjeeling belonged to Sikkim,” he contended.
“There will be no loss to Sikkim if Darjeeling is merged with it, in fact the entire revenue of Rs. 4,000 crore which is going to the West Bengal government will come to the Sikkim. Darjeeling has 82 tea gardens compared to just one in Sikkim, which is a major revenue earner; even Siliguri which is a major economic hub would fall within the state and this would be good for Sikkim’s economy,” he stated.

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