Mamata Banerjee’s announcement on Friday that the Trinamul Congress would not field candidates in three hill Assembly seats and instead let her “friends” contest put party supporters in a quandary as they were confused which faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was “dearer” to the chief minister.
The Bimal Gurung and Binay Tamang camps of the Morcha, which are both allies of Trinamul, have decided to field own candidates from Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong Assembly constituencies.
“In the three hill Assembly seats, my friends will contest the election,” Mamata said on Friday in Calcutta.
In Darjeeling, Trinamul leaders had no immediate answer regarding the faction they were supposed to support. “Maybe, a directive will come to us. In fact, we were discussing the same issue right now,” L.B. Rai, president, Trinamul (Hills), said when asked about the chief minister’s statement.
Rai admitted that the issue was “serious”. “The issue is serious as we have many supporters in the hills and hence, the party should tell us clearly. We will, however, follow whatever the high command directs us.”
Hill Trinamul leaders are planning to come down to Siliguri on Sunday and meet Mamata, who will be holding a rally in the plains town, to discuss this issue. “We are trying to meet her in Siliguri on Sunday,” Rai said
Not only Trinamul leaders but also functionaries of various cultural organisations who support development boards in the hills are also facing a similar dilemma.
“We too are waiting for an appropriate directive. I think the directive will come in a subtle manner. As of now, we have no clear answers,” said a leader of a cultural organisation that supports development boards in the hills.
The Mamata Banerjee government set up 16 cultural development boards for various hill communities since 2014.
A political observer said since 2017, hill Trinamul leaders and those associated with the various development boards had been working closely with the Binay Tamang-Anit Thapa camp of the Morcha.
“The same does not hold true with the Bimal Gurung camp,” the observer added.
Gurung dumped the BJP, a 13-year-old ally, only a few months back and realigned with Trinamul.
The Tamang-Thapa faction had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election and Darjeeling Assembly bypoll as an ally of Trinamul.
Gurung, however, claimed he could be a decisive factor in “10 to 15” seats in the Dooars.
A triangular contest involving the two Morcha factions and the BJP-GNLF alliance is likely to be played in the three hill seats. Each of the three constituencies has a voter strength ranging from 2 lakh to 2.4 lakh.
“In such a situation, the role of Trinamul and even leaders of cultural organisations supporting development boards will be of much importance to the two factions of the Morcha,” said the observer.
Bista plea
Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista on Friday wrote to chief election commissioner Sunil Arora, seeking the removal of board of administrators at the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration as they were “non-elected political nominees”.
“These unelected administrators are now using the GTA to influence voters in our region by promising them employment, permanent jobs, contracts and funds,” Bista alleged.
The GTA is being run by nominated administrators since 2017.