BJP has not fully accepted Gorkhaland demand: Jaswant Singh

DARJEELING: Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who won Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat on the party ticket in 2009, has claimed that the saffron party has not fully accepted the demand for Gorkhaland.

"It is sad BJP has not fully accepted the statehood demand of the Darjeeling hills. The party is trying to ride on two boats over the Gorkhaland issue. I don't know if the BJP is sincere towards the statehood demand, but I certainly am," Singh told reporters here yesterday.

"It is a reality that the state BJP will never agree to a division. Bengal has already seen two divisions and does not want another. But I don't view the creation of a Gorkhaland state as a division of Bengal because that is the only correct solution," said the 76-year-old politician expelled from BJP in March last.

Singh, fighting the current election as an Independent from his home town Barmer in Rajasthan, won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in 2009 with the support of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) as BJP promised for Gorkhaland.

Responding to allegations of remaining absent from his constituency for the greater part of his tenure, he said, "With elections come allegations and it is not necessary to give answers to all of them."