The BJP MLAs from north Bengal and also a few from the southern parts of the state continued their visits to the Union ministers for the second day on Wednesday.
The MLAs, led by Shankar Ghosh, the Siliguri MLA, met Union civil aviation minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu and Virendra Kumar, the minister for social justice and empowerment, on Wednesday.
“Today and yesterday, we met seven central ministers and put forward our demands. Tomorrow, we will meet some more members of the Union Cabinet, seeking their intervention and help for the development of north Bengal and the state as a whole,” Ghosh said over the phone from Delhi on Wednesday evening.
As the MLAs met Naidu, they referred to the airports in Cooch Behar, Malda and Balurghat.
“In Cooch Behar, there is a flight service (14-seater flight) to Calcutta while the Malda and Balurghat airports haven’t been operational for years. We have requested the minister to see that more flights are introduced in Cooch Behar and flight operations start from Malda and Balurghat. The state government has a role to play here, but it is lackadaisical on these issues, we have mentioned,” said Ghosh, who is also the BJP’s chief whip in the Assembly.
While talking to Naidu, the legislators have also sought international flights from Bagdogra. “Also, there should be flights to some more Indian cities like Surat and Jaipur from Bagdogra,” he added.
Anandamoy Barman, the BJP MLA of Matigara-Naxalbari, an Assembly constituency in the Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district, has submitted a letter to Naidu, requesting him to name Bagdogra airport after Chila Roy.
The airport is located in his constituency.
“The airport should be named after Chila Roy. Many Rajbanshi organizations want it. Also, the community has made a lot of contributions in providing land for the Bagdogra airport in yesteryears,” said Barman.
Chila Roy aka Shukladhwaj was a member of the royal family of the erstwhile princely state of Cooch Behar. He is considered the fiercest fighter of the family and is revered by people.
The visit of BJP MLAs to Delhi just a year ahead of the Assembly polls in Bengal has led to repercussions in the political circles of north Bengal.
“These MLAs have failed to carry out development in their areas during the past four years and hardly raised any issues before the central government. Now they are doing so to retain their support base. However, they cannot dupe the voters through such trips,” said a senior Trinamool functionary in Siliguri.
“We have serious doubts as to whether anything effective will come out of such trips,” he added.