Bimal Gurung announced just last month from Darjeeling hills that he would not contest the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) elections, a body he had accepted to accelerate development in the hills in 2012, but is in Calcutta currently to try and make his presence felt.

On Monday, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief and his Calcutta delegation met Molay Ghatak, state PWD minister and raised the issue of an alternative route to NH10, the arterial route not just to Sikkim but also to Bengal’s Kalimpong district.

According to a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha source, the delegation also met minority affairs minister Ghulam Rabbani to flag off issues concerning minorities in Darjeeling.

“Rabbani was in Darjeeling just a week back but Gurung’s team had to visit Calcutta to raise issues with him,” a well-informed source said.

On November 27, Team Bimal Gurung had met labour minister Becharam Manna and on November 26 food and civil supplies minister Ratin Ghosh. On November 25, he met Partha Chatterjee, secretary general, Trinamul.

During their meeting with Chatterjee, the hill delegation stated “the election to GTA and the proposed permanent political solution being deeply co-related subjects, the election to GTA at this stage may create confusion among people in general.” The Morcha wants election to this region should be held to a “new government on completion of the proposed political solution” but early panchayat polls.

Elections to panchayats were last held in the hills in 2000. The GTA elections are due since 2017.

Both the BJP and Trinamul have assured a “permanent political solution” for the hills but have not defined it.

“If Gurung is only interested in working for a permanent political solution and not the GTA as claimed by him, why is he raising development

issues in Calcutta instead of clarifying what he wants under the so-called permanent political solution,” said a leader opposed to Gurung in the hills.

The hill leader did not want to disclose his identity as he is not authorised by his party to speak to the media.

However, the leader’s argument is gathering traction in the hills.

Last Friday, Roshan Giri, general secretary of Gurung’s party, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, told this newspaper that they were looking at meeting chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Gurung had dumped BJP in 2020, after a decade-old association in 2020, and joined hands with Trinamul, but there are no records of the Gurung and Mamata meeting publicly since then.

Giri’s statement and the day-to-day development is a clear indication that Gurung is caught in a crossroads between “development” and “taking part in GTA elections”, said an observer.