Binay Tamang, the bête noire of Bimal Gurung, on Wednesday held his first meeting with his party leaders from the Dooars in the region itself.

The meeting surprised many political watchers because since 2017, when Tamang formed a breakaway faction, had not shown much interest towards the Dooars.

But now, with both Tamang and Gurung, who head rival factions of the Morcha and are both aligned to Trinamul, it looks like the Tamang considered it prudent to pay attention to the Dooars.

Gurung’s statehood agitation from 2007 to 2017 was active in the Dooars, too. He is likely to address a public meeting in the Dooars this coming Sunday.

Keshav Raj Pokhrel, spokesman of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Tamang camp) admitted that this was the first time that the party was holding a meeting in the Dooars.

“We organised a karmi sabha (workers’ meeting) at a closed hall at Nagarkatta in the Dooars. Earlier, our leader had addressed a meeting in the Dooars on an invitation of another Dooars-based organisation,” said Pokhrel.

On Wednesday, Tamang said his party would hold a mega rally in the Dooars by February, “either at Birpara or Jaigoan”. Tamang further pointed out that the people of the Dooars were only being used by political parties. However, he did not utter Gurung’s name during the nearly 40-minute speech at the Adivasi Cultural Centre at Nagarkatta.

Tamang raised Dooars-centric issues like the need to improve health infrastructure and set up a parallel bridge to the Coronation Bridge, one of the main connecters between Siliguri and the Dooars.

Tamang’s decision to foray in the hills also comes at a time when Gurung is looking at reactivating his party activities in the Dooars. Sources said that Gurung is scheduled to address a public meeting in the Dooars this Sunday at a time Tamang and his deputy Anit Thapa address a public meet at Sukna near Siliguri.

Many believe that the Sukna meeting by the Tamang camp will counter Gurung’s meeting at Indira Gandhi Maidan last Sunday.

“With Gurung expected to foray in the Dooars (Gurung has not yet come up to Darjeeling but is currently in Siliguri), the Tamang camp also seems to be making efforts to reach out to the Gorkha population in the Dooars,” said a hill observer.

It is largely believed that the Gorkha population can influence anything between six to eight assembly seats in Dooars and Terai (another area in the plains.)

Unlike the hills, where voices for Gorkhaland statehood is in the majority, the scenario is different in Dooars with a mixed demography. Gorkhas are not in a majority in most areas of the Dooars.

“With both factions supporting Trinamul, there seems to be a feeling in TMC that Gorkhas would vote as wished by Gurung or Tamang. However, TMC strategists should understand that Gorkha leaders might not have the last word during the Assembly elections,” the observer added.

Tamang formed a breakaway Morcha in 2017 and aligned with TMC. Gurung was on the run but resurfaced in Bengal on October 21 in Calcutta and announced support to TMC and dumped BJP.

Additional inputs from our Jalpaiguri correspondent.