Ajoy Edwards, the president of Hamro Party, left for Manipur capital Imphal on Saturday, to participate in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra that is set to start from Manipur on Sunday.
Rahul's Nyay Yatra aims to cover a distance of over 6,000 kilometres to reach Mumbai by mid-March.
Edwards’s participation at the Congress event provides a broad outline of the new political alignment that is emerging in the Darjeeling hills before this year's Lok Sabha elections.
“The yatra is being initiated by a political party but it has invited all the people who need justice to join the march. We are walking for Gorkhas who need justice,” said Edwards.
Hamro Party is the main opposition in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). Currently, Anit Thapa's party, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), has control of the GTA, and is allied to Bengal's ruling Trinamul.
Edwards said this did not mean his party was joining the Congress.
Rahul Gandhi. File picture
However, hill observers said he had met Rahul in Delhi in December as well and there were indications that Hamro Party was "leaning towards the Congress".
Congress leaders in north Bengal have started the groundwork to make the Nyay Yatra a success.
The party is also banking on the march to revive support in the north Bengal tea belt, a territory where Congress and Intuc, its trade union front, had a strong base for years.
According to party insiders, Rahul will enter Bengal from Assam from Baxirhat, which is on the interstate border, and will move through different areas of Cooch Behar district on January 26.
“So far, we have come to know that Rahul Gandhi will reach Bengal on January 26. He will move through Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts and will halt in Falakata. Next day, he will head for Jalpaiguri and Siliguri,” said Mani Kumar Darnal, a veteran trade union leader and Alipurduar Congress president.
In Falakata, tents would be pitched and other arrangements made at the Town Club ground for his stay, said sources. On January 27, Rahul is scheduled to reach Kawakhali near Siliguri for a night halt.
