Bimal Gurung on Sunday said he had changed his politics and in the new scheme of things his priority was to help Mamata Banerjee win the Bengal Assembly elections and then work out a permanent political solution for the region.

“I have changed my politics as we have to defeat the BJP,” Gurung said at a public meeting at Selphu in Kurseong. “My priority now is to ensure Mamata Banerjee’s win after which we will work out a permanent political solution for the place.”

He added that “he would not put his feet on two boats” as the BJP had betrayed him despite him supporting the saffron camp for 12 years.

Gurung’s assertion comes a day after Anit Thapa of the GJM’s rival Binay Tamang faction, said he would not seek votes based on the Gorkhaland issue.

The Tamang faction is allied to Trinamul, which has been opposed to Gorkhaland. This October, Gurung parted ways with the BJP over “unfulfilled promises” and decided to back Mamata and Trinamul for Bengal elections, though his and Tamang's factions continue to be bitter rivals.

Against this background, Gurung’s statement of changed politics assumes significance.

Gurung had been supporting the BJP in Lok Sabha elections since 2009 when his party helped elect BJP’s Jaswant Singh as Darjeeling MP.

Since then, Gurung supported BJP candidates at the parliamentary elections thrice.

Gurung’s relationship with Mamata could best be described as blow hot, blow cold for the past seven years, hill observers said. Gurung’s faction of the GJM had vouched its support to Trinamul during the 2011 Bengal elections though the party had not actively campaigned for Trinamul then. Since Mamata came to power in 2011, Gurung launched two phases of the Gorkhaland agitation, the latest being in 2017.

Even last Sunday, in his Darjeeling public rally, Gurung was loud and clear on Gorkhaland, an emotive issue on the hills.

But on Monday evening, a delegation of smaller hill parties, all BJP allies, who went

to meet Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi, reported that Shah would confer the Scheduled Tribe tag to 11 hill communities soon but settle the permanent political solution after state elections.

On Saturday, Thapa said he wasn’t making Gorkhaland a poll plank for the state elections. Gurung’s changed poll priorities seems to reflect the fast-changing scenario of hill politics.

What was unchanged was the animosity between the Morcha factions.

On Sunday, Gurung launched a vitriolic attack at the Tamang-Thapa camp.

“I have defeated you people (Tamang-Thapa) despite staying in Delhi. You could not win elections despite the state government spending Rs 1,700 crore in GTA (Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, which the Tamang-Thapa camp heads). You people don’t matter and one day you will have to come to my feet,” said Gurung.

Gurung in alliance with BJP and other hill parties had defeated Trinamul-Tamang alliance both in Lok Sabha and Darjeeling Assembly bypolls last year.

“These people (Tamang-Thapa) might be telling the state government that they might switch to BJP if not kept in power in the GTA. Let them go, I will ensure Mamata Banerjee’s victory alone. I will not keep my feet in two boats,” said Gurung.

Thapa on Saturday had said that he was and would always stay with the state government.

On Sunday, Gurung also pointedly indicated Mamata when he said: “You have to choose the one that can win you (Assembly) seats. We will win all the three hill seats and help win 17 seats in north Bengal. They (Tamang camp) will win nothing."