DARJEELING,: BGPM leader Gopal Lama, also a retired civil servant, was on Sunday announced as the TMC candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. His name was announced from Brigade Ground in Kolkata by TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee.
Seventy-year-old Lama has not played an active part in politics in the past and had recently joined the Anit Thapa-led BGPM. He had served as the Darjeeling additional district magistrate and after retirement in 2014, he was appointed as an OSD in the GTA till 2017.
Lama hails from Garigaon near Tung in Kurseong.
Speaking about Lama during a programme at Chungthung-Rishiat, BGPM president Anit Thapa said: “I have been saying that our candidate is Gopal Lama from the beginning as I wanted someone from the hills to represent us. He is a retired ADM with him also working as the SDO of Siliguri. He is a learned person known by many people. It was me that had asked the State government that the MP candidate should be ours. The MP election is not only won from the votes cast in the Hills, but we also need votes from the plains for which we will be using the symbol of the TMC.”
Thapa requested the gathering to support Lama in the Lok Sabha election.
“The way the BJP duped us for 15 years, we should defeat them this time by showing the unity of the Gorkhas and show them what happens if they trick the Gorkhas. We have been fooled thrice and now if we continue to believe what they say then we will all be called fools,” he said.