Click to play videoDarjeeling: What was so far a bastion for Indian Idol finalist Prashant Tamang, is now witnessing fractures.
Fans of his rival Amit Paul are taking to the streets of Siliguri in large numbers to garner support for him.
And Amit, who was born and raised in Siliguri before moving to Shillong, could now take heart with the kind of a fan following that he is receiving.
"Anyone can win or lose in a competition. But if Amit loses we will be heartbroken because we love him with all our hearts,” says a fan.
But the scene is completely different, just a few hundred meters above the plains of Siliguri.
Makeshift SMS booths, which the fans of Prashant use to vote for him, dot the roads of Darjeeling now.
They rely on generous donations from vehicles passing by to send countless SMS votes for Darjeeling's Darling.
"So far we have collected more than Rs 10,000 all from SMSs,” says a fan, Dipak Rai
Some 50 dedicated telephones are working round the clock in Darjeeling alone to vote for Prashant.
Others including Prashant’s friends are taking the mellifluous route to spread the message.
We can call it madness, or unadulterated love and support for Prashant. But the bottom line is that the people of Darjeeling are in no mood to even consider the possibility that the title of India's singing idol may also just slip from the hands of their hero.
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