Former Sabhadhipati of the Alipurduar zilla parishad and the present president of the Alipurduar district Trinamul Congress Committee, Mohan Sharma, on Monday filed his nomination papers for seat No-9 of the Alipurduar zilla parishad, along with his cousin brother, Dipak Sharma.
Sixty-two-year-old Dipak Sharma, who is 10 months younger than Mohan Sharma has filed his nomination as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. “I am not fighting against my brother. I am fighting against Trinamul Congress and its policies. Our family relations will not be affected by the elections,” Dipak Sharma said.
Both the Sharma families were earlier residents of Gore Line in the Kalchini tea plantation and lived there for the past 36 years. The distance between their houses is a mere 500 meters.
“I, myself, took him to our village in Kalchini in the year 1982. There are several internal matters, but I would not like to talk of all those matters here. It is good that he is fighting against me,” TMC leader Mohan Sharma said.
According to political observers, the Bharatiya Janata Party has tactfully roped in Dipak Sharma to stand against his own brother in the zilla parishad seat.
“Why is everyone surprised? Two brothers have earlier fought against each other in our great epic, Mahabharata, over policies. It is as simple as it was in Mahabharata,” said the district President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Ganga Prasad Sharma.
There are a total of 18 zilla parishad seats in Alipurduar district. Trinamul Congress and BJP have already submitted their nominations papers for all the zilla parishad seats, it is learnt.