The Congress has been pushed to the backfoot in Darjeeling after the party’s manifesto that was released on Friday failed to address Darjeeling specific issues.

The Congress candidate from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, Munish Tamang, is being supported by Ajoy Edwards’s Hamro Party and the Left Front.

Edwards and Munish had both met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and also had a talk with the party’s chairman of the manifesto committee Chidambaram regarding the hill issues on March 29.

“I along with Munish Tamang and other GTA Sabhsads and Darjeeling municipality councillors had met Khargeji in Delhi and talked about the issues of Darjeeling like granting tribal status and then Sixth Schedule status,” admitted Edwards.

The team was put in touch with Chidambaram and Edwards team were also asked to submit various documents, sources said.

Incidentally, the agreement for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) was signed in 2011 in Siliguri in the presence of Chidambaram who was then the Union home minister.

The failure to mention Darjeeling issues has already become a talking point in Darjeeling hills propelled by the opposition camp, especially because of issues specific to places like Ladakh, Jammu Kashmir and Puducherry.

The Congress has promised to restore full statehood to Jammu and Kashim, include Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of Bthe Constitution and grant full statehood to Puducherry.

Munish and Edwards tried to defend the miss on grounds that their association with the Congress was at the last moment and that the party’s general vision resonated with the demand of the region.

“Our tie-up with the Congress was very late,” said Edwards, who admitted that he did reach out to the Congress leadership after the manifesto was released.

The Hamro Party leader said that the Congress leadership had pointed out that the party had mentioned issues concerning Schedule tribes and schedule issues.

In the manifesto, the Congress has mentioned: “Congress is committed to notify a ‘Scheduled Area’ all habitations or groups of habitations where ST are the largest social group outside the present Schedule Areas in all States and Union Territories.”

Munish, too, said that the overall vision of Congress resonates with the hill issues.

“Manifesto is a vision of the party. The issue of Ladakh and even Puducherry resonates with our region. However, we will see how we can verbalize the issues of the region,” said Munish.

The discomfiture for the Congress is likely to be more pronounced as the BJP had in 2014 and 2019 mentioned region specific issues.