Dawn of a new era: BJP takes control over Darjeeling Municipality

Dawn of a new era: BJP takes control over Darjeeling Municipality

All the 17 GNLF Councillors of Darjeeling Municipality shift their allegiance to BJP

We shall decide about the Chairman of the Municipality very soon, says Mukul Roy

Darjeeling/Kolkata, June 09 (HS): Further strengthening the party’s foothold in West Bengal, BJP has taken control over Darjeeling Municipality with 17 of its 30 Councillors joining  the party in New Delhi.

According to reports, after BJP candidate Raju Bista won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat with support from the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), defeating Trinamool Congress nominee Amar Kumar Rai, the support for BJP in all the three hill subdivisions were rising steadily.

Accordingly, all the 17 GNLF Councillors of Darjeeling Municipality has shifted their allegiance to BJP and formally joined the party at its New Delhi headquarters in presence of senior BJP leader and the party’s Central Observer Kailash Vijaybargiya and Mukul Roy at a brief ceremony where they were handed over the BJP flag.

Welcoming these Councillors into the party fold, Mukul Roy said that following the death of one Councillor and the resignation of another, the strength of 32-member Darjeeling Municipality reduced to 30. Of these 30 Councillors 17 have joined BJP to make it the largest party to be eligible to take control of the Municipal Corporation. “We shall decide about the Chairman of the Municipality very soon”, Roy said and hoped that many more Municipalities in the state would soon follow suits.

It may be recalled that only about a week ago BJP had taken over the control of Bhatpara Municipality in North 24 Parganas district after majority of its members joined BJP en masse.