Several Trinamul Congress functionaries apparently told Mamata Banerjee on Monday that Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung’s stand of extending support to the ruling party on one hand and demanding a separate state on the other could be detrimental to its prospects in the upcoming Assembly polls.

The chief minister reached here on Monday afternoon for a three-day north Bengal tour and then held a series of meetings with Trinamul leaders and senior Jalpaiguri district administration officials.

“Bimal Gurung has been reasserting the demand for Gorkhaland at his public meetings. This has left our local leaders and workers perturbed as people have started raising questions. We have passed on the feedback to our senior leadership that even a section of our workers is feeling disgruntled because of Gurung’s comments,” said a Trinamul source.

Gurung, who had resurfaced in Calcutta in October after a gap of three-and-a-half years, had announced that he was severing ties with the BJP and would support Mamata Banerjee and her party in the 2021 Assembly elections.

Last week, the Morcha leader reached Siliguri and addressed a public meeting in the city. On Sunday (December 13), he spoke at another meeting in Birpara, Alipurduar.

At both his meetings, the Morcha leader tried to drive home the point that even though he was supporting Trinamul, he would continue to press for Gorkhaland, a demand that is staunchly opposed by Mamata and Trinamul.

A number of Trinamul leaders based in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts said they couldn’t ignore the strong anti-Gorkhaland sentiment in the Terai and the Dooars.

“Trinamul workers have pointed out that resentment is brewing among people who ask how the party can get Bimal Gurung on board when it is against Gorkhaland? He has compulsions and can never drop the demand. We are also confused whether it would be apt to take up joint political programmes with him in the coming days,” said a Trinamul leader.

State tourism minister Gautam Deb who was among Trinamul leaders who called on Mamata at the PWD bungalow here, said they wanted to

move together to ensure peace and development in the Darjeeling hills. “The state government and our party have a clear stand on the issue (of separate statehood). All we want is to walk together so that peace prevails in the hills and the Dooars and they develop.

On Monday afternoon, the chief minister arrived in Bagdogra and took a chopper to Jalpaiguri. On Tuesday, she will head for Cooch Behar where she will speak at a public rally on Wednesday.

GNLF delegation

A three-member delegation of the Gorkha National Liberation Front left for Delhi on Monday to meet Union home minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders.

Sources in the GNLF said the purpose of the visit was to discuss the “permanent political solution” of the hills, an issue time and again flagged by hill parties.

The delegation of party president Mann Ghising, general secretary Mahendra Chhetri and Darjeeling MLA Neeraj Zimba who had won on a BJP ticket in the 2019 bypolls, left for Delhi after a call from the Union home ministry.

“We received a call from the Union home ministry on Monday and were told that a meeting would be held in Delhi. It seems that the Union home minister will be present but are yet to know other details like the agenda and venue,” said Chhetri.

“We would, however, hold talks only on the issue of permanent political solution and not any other issue,” he added.

Additional repoorting by Bireswar Banerjee