Will Harsh Vardhan Shringla be BJP’s candidate from Darjeeling?
If strong rumours are to be believed, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, former foreign secretary and chief coordinator for India’s G20 presidency in 2023, will be the BJP’s candidate for Darjeeling in the upcoming general election to the Lok Sabha.
The 61-year-old also happens to be a Darjeeling boy, though he never really stayed there. He is a frequent visitor, nonetheless, according to his relatives, and his family owns the iconic hotel Ivanhoe House at the Mall.
At present, he is the founding president of the Darjeeling Welfare Society, posters of him in which avatar appeared recently in the hill town, giving rise to the rumours.
The society was launched in May 2023, which would be about a year before the Lok Sabha election. Is that any indication that the founding of the society was meant to give him a base in Darjeeling? Well, only time would tell. For now, there are only the rumours of his candidature.
In September, when asked whether the timing of the founding of the society and its presidentship were any indication of his possible candidature for the Lok Sabha election, he had brushed it off with a “Don’t believe media speculation”.
On Tuesday, when Hindustan Times asked him again about his possible candidature, linking it to his posters around town, Shringla’s only response was a counter-question—were there as many to merit such speculation?
Talking to the same publication, Raju Bista of BJP, the sitting MP, appeared hopeful of a re-run, though. “If someone wants to dream about that seat, I will wish them well,” he said.
For many in Darjeeling, though, the party doesn’t matter; what does is a long-promised Gorkhaland, a promise not kept by either the Congress or the BJP.
An interesting snippet on ‘Shringla’ at the end. He was born in Mumbai as Harsh Vardhan Tshering La, to a Sikkimese couple from Darjeeling—Tenduf Tshering La, a Buddhist (who retired as India’s joint chief controller of foreign trade) and Hari Devi Basnet, a Hindu. They spoke Nepali at home. ‘Tshering La’ being a little-known surname in the city, his school recorded his surname as ‘Shringla’, they being phonetically identical. Harsh Vardhan saw it fit to settle for Shringla.
