Buzz grows over Shringla entering Lok Sabha election fray from Darjeeling

New Delhi: Could former foreign secretary and G20 coordinator Harsh Vardhan Shringla be a potential Lok Sabha candidate in 2024 from Darjeeling? Posters that emerged all over this West Bengal hill town over the New Year weekend have generated some buzz to the effect.

The posters, featuring the 61-year-old Shringla in a suit, in his avatar as president of the Darjeeling Welfare Society, and simply greeting everyone for the new year, seem innocuous. Still, the launch of the society just a year before the elections, in mid-2023, and the spread of the poster has everyone guessing.

On Tuesday, Shringla’s only response when asked about the posters was a counter question – on whether there were a lot of them around town. In September, after the launch of the society, he brushed off a similar question. “Don’t believe media speculation,” was what he said then. The secretary of the society Dechen Chimi Wangdi said that the society’s objective was to work towards the welfare of the people of Darjeeling.

The state Bharatiya Janata Party unit has supported the move. Party member Sanjib Biswas said: “All of us would want a professional after having seen politicians for the last three terms.’’

Another person keeping a close eye on developments is BJP’s sitting candidate Raju Bista. “If someone wants to dream about that seat, I will wish them well. According to Indian law, everyone has the right to contest.’’ Only 37, Bista was brought in to replace the party’s veteran leader SS Ahlulwalia from this seat in 2019.

While Ahluwalia didn’t confirm Shringla’s candidature, he seemed supportive of the move. “Darjeeling needs a lot of development. Simply politics isn’t going to work here. If you want to restore the lost glory of the town, you need a visionary who has had international exposure,” he said.

Meanwhile, residents like poet Raja Puniani say all that matters is who delivers the long cause of Gorkhaland. “It is the only agenda that is instrumental for any political move. BJP has proved itself as a failure in addressing the long pending demand of Gorkhaland (since 1907 when Hillmen’s Association had submitted a memorandum to British Administration for formation of a separate autonomous body for Hill people of Darjeeling province) as Congress failed in prior to BJP. Whoever it is, the candidate should be favouring the century long issue of Gorkhaland, or else the leader will not be favoured by public in the long run in Darjeeling constituency.”

Shringla was India’s foreign secretary between 2020 and 2022 and ambassador to the US between 2019 and 2020. He also served in Bangladesh and Thailand. Apart from G20 and his tenure as foreign secretary during the pandemic, Shringla worked closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the “Howdy Modi” event in Texas in 2019.