Prominent political faces from Darjeeling hills so far associated with different hill parties joined the Hamro Party on Sunday but the induction of many faces raised questions on whether the three-month old party was showing signs of being “old wine in a new bottle.”

Leaders who were once close to prominent hill politicians such as Bimal Gurung, Binay Tamang, Anit Thapa and even the BJP joined Hamro Party, which won the Darjeeling civic polls recently, on Sunday.

The perception of Hamro Party becoming just like any other party seemed so strong among hill residents that Ajoy Edwards, the party’s founder who chaired the induction ceremony in Darjeeling, spoke at length to assuage “such misgivings.”

“On social media, people are talking about old wine in a new bottle. They (the new inductees) might have been in any party, our doors are open too all, but once we are in a family (Hamro Party), all of us are tied by our party constitution, our thoughts and our intentions. If anyone indulges in corruption, an idea we don’t believe in, the doors are open for them to leave too,” said Edwards.

Edwards then launched a narrative that “every priest has a past, every sinner a future” in an attempt to counter the old-wine-in-a-new bottle narrative.

Sanjay Thulung, a former elected GTA Sabha member from Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was a prominent face to join the new party. Thulung, however, was also accused of smuggling arms from Assam to Darjeeling in 2014.

The state CID had filed an FIR against Thulung stating he had given Rs 13.3 lakh to militants in Nagaland to provide arms training to 15 Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP), a baton-wielding unit formed by Gurung and trained by former ex-serviceman, and some others from Darjeeling hills.

Thulung, however, denied the allegations.

“It was a political conspiracy to defame me,” said Thulung.

Apart from Thulung, Saran Lama, a former Morcha leader from Chungtung-Liza Hill area, who had stood with Gurung till recently, also joined the Hamro Party.

So did Balam Tamang, a trade union leader who was with Binay Tamang even after Tamang left the faction of the Morcha that he formed.

Abishek Sharma, who was the BJP youth president of Darjeeling until he resigned seven months back, was among the new inductees.

“I left the BJP in August last year as I felt that Bengal BJP does not function as a cadre-based party. I now subscribe to Ajoy Edwards’s brand of politics,” said Sharma.

The new inductees claimed they were true soldiers of the issue of community identity and hence statehood and had joined Hamro Party after a series of meetings with its leaders.

“We believe our issues will be raised by Ajoy Edwards but on a non-violent and intellectual level,” said Satayan Chhetri, a former leader of Bimal Gurung’s party who is now with the Hamro Party.

Edwards during the induction ceremony said the people-to-people issue involving development was as important as the issue of the Gorkhas and that he would raise both and work on both the issues at appropriate time and place.