Harka Bahadur Chettri, Kalimpong’s MLA, won the Assembly elections the last time around for the majority party in the hills, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). He got 87 percent of the votes in Kalimpong – the most for any seat in West Bengal. However, just under a year ago he left the party after 9 years and formed the Jan Andolan Party (JAP). What sets his party apart from others in the state is that it is similar to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – it is youth-centric with a focus on ‘real issues’.
On the issue of Gorkhaland, he takes a practical approach, saying it is not on his agenda at the moment.
“We are fighting an Assembly election, the focus should be what [we] can do using the machinery of the state government”.
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