ABAVP threatens boycott of LS polls

The Akhil Bhartiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad leadership today threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha polls in Jalpaiguri district if the state government failed to fulfil its demands by 31 March.

According to the organisation’s Terai-Dooars coordination committee president, Mr John Barla, the tribals have lost faith in the Left Front Parliamentarians of the region. “The former RSP MP from Alipurduar constituency, Mr Joachim Buxla, did nothing for the tribals. He used to visit the locked tea plantations to seek votes but did not take the initiative to reopen the plantations while the workers continued to suffer. This year, the RSP has changed its candidate and nominated state PWD minister Mr Manohar Tirkey for Alipurduar constituency, but we are not convinced of his efficacy,” Mr Barla said.

According to the leader, the state government has done nothing for the development of the region. “We have been appealing for the last 61 years for development, to no avail. We have therefore decided to boycott the elections until the state government fulfils our demands.”

The unit’s secretary, Mr Rajesh Lakra, said their patience has crossed all limits. “The chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, met our delegation in Kolkata recently where we presented a 16-point charter of demands to him. We urged him to fulfil them by 31 March. We held a meeting at Nagrakata today and resolved to boycott the poll proceedings if our demands were not met by the stipulated date,” Mr Lakra said.

From SNS