Prominent Darjeeling politician Binay Tamang joined the Congress on Sunday and attributed his move to "indications of change in the national political arena".

At a meeting held in Kalimpong, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury handed over the party flag to Tamang in the presence of other leaders.

This is the third political party which Tamang joined in the past few years. Initially, he was with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha led by Bimal Gurung. After the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation, Tamang, along with Anit Thapa, walked out of Gurung’s camp and floated another faction of the Morcha.

Later, Tamang and Thapa took separate routes. Thapa formed his own party, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, which is in power at the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) now. Tamang joined the Trinamul Congress.

After some months, Tamang quit Trinamul. Since then, he had been seen hanging around with Bimal Gurung and Ajoy Edwards, who is the founder of the Hamro Party.

In 2022, Tamang contested and won the GTA Sabha elections as an Independent.

Tamang was also the chairman of the board of administrators formed by the Mamata Banerjee government to run the GTA after its tenure had ended.

Tamang said on Sunday that the BJP had won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat thrice by making empty promises.

“The BJP has managed to get three MPs from the hills by making promises to the residents. Eventually, we found that those were empty promises. The Congress has done a lot for the hills and north Bengal and there are indications of change in the national political arena. That is why I have decided to join the Congress and work for the people here,” Tamang said after joining the Congress.

Senior Congress leaders in the Darjeeling district have welcomed Tamang. For years, the party didn’t have a prominent face in the hills, they said.

“People across the hills are disillusioned with the BJP and Binay Tamang is known for his sincerity. We believe his decision will help the Congress in the district and in other Gorkha–dominated areas of north Bengal,” said a Congress leader in Siliguri.