Raju Bista, the BJP candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, on Thursday publicly hung the sword of CBI and ED over his rivals in the Darjeeling hills.

The central probe agencies have never entered the Darjeeling hills so far. There are widespread allegations that the BJP is using the agencies to target its political rivals in many parts of the country.

“Save your khadas (silk scarf used to welcome guests in this region) as a big team of the CBI is climbing up the hills,” said Bista at an election campaign in Mirik, some 35km from Darjeeling.

Bista’s CBI reference probably finds its roots in the recent directive to the CBI by Calcutta High Court to probe into the authenticity of three anonymous letters received by the court on alleged irregularities in the appointment of teachers within the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) area in recent years.

“I will read out the work that the CBI needs to do, if anything is amiss you might please add on,” Bista told the gathering in Mirik, adding that the first job was to look into the alleged “teacher’s scam.”

The issue is a hot topic in the hills as nearly 1000-odd teachers have been appointed in the past 10 years.

“The moment I say teacher’s scam, the 1,500 teachers (who received the appointments) start getting scared. I want to say that only those 150-odd teachers who are close to leaders, candidates who got jobs while staying in Dubai, Singapore or by becoming leaders of a particular party for 24 hours need to fear,” said Bista.

The BJP leader, however, said that the candidates under the scanner could save their skin by turning “government approvers” to spill the beans.

Bista listed out instances of alleged anomalies and said these issues needed to be brought under the scanner of the CBI and the ED.

“For the Har Ghar Jal Yojana (a drinking water scheme in the rural areas) a sum of Rs 3,500 crore was sanctioned for the region but there are only plastic pipes and no water,” alleged Bista.

The incumbent Darjeeling MP said Rs 200 crore had been sanctioned for
Mirik of which the first installment of Rs 9 crore had been released. “Work has not started. There is a need for the ED and the CBI here,” said Bista.

The BJP candidate said the CBI and ED needed to investigate “fake contractors” getting contracts without credentials, “officers, engineers and sub-engineers who are taking a commission of 10-15 per cent” apart from political leaders.

Bista alleged that leaders had sold off government lands in Mirik and Rs 3.75 crore meant for guard walls, Rs 88 crore for housing schemes and Rs 4 crore for beautification of Mirik Lake had not been properly utilised.