Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Binay Tamang said on Friday that his faction had already identified candidates for Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong seats in the 2021 Bengal Assembly elections.
Speaking on the sidelines of a party meeting in Kalimpong, Tamang said: “We have identified the three candidates. We will not disclose their names now but they are well-known faces in the region.”
The Assembly elections are of much importance to the Tamang faction as it had lost two consecutive polls last year. Tamang had come up with his own faction in the Morcha in 2017 and allied with the Trinamul Congress.
While BJP’s Raju Bista defeated Amar Singh Rai in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, Tamang was trounced by Neeraj Zimba, a GNLF leader who contested on a BJP ticket, in the Darjeeling Assembly byelection.
“A third defeat would spell doom for the Tamang faction which will lose bargaining power before Trinamul,” said an observer.
The Tamang group restructured its Kalimpong district committee on Friday. A panel was also formed to oversee the launch of election committees in different areas.
Sanchabir Subba, the present party president of the Kalimpong district, has been made an assistant secretary of the central committee, while C.B. Gurung appointed the new president of the district committee.
Former DGHC councillor Sankamani Rai, Kalimpong municipality chairman Rabi Pradhan and Dipen Sherpa were made the vice-presidents of the district committee.
“I have also directed Nari Morcha president Tshering Dahal to look at restricting the women’s wing,” said Tamang.
The Morcha will hold a meeting at Kumai in the Gorubathan block of Kalimpong on Saturday. “We will form a new subdivisional committee comprising Gorubathan-Kumai-Jhaldhaka areas on Saturday,” said Tamang.
The move, Tamang said was part of the Morcha’s plan to demand three subdivisions in Kalimpong district. At the moment, there are no subdivisions in Kalimpong district.
“We want Kalimpong district to be divided into Kalimpong Sadar, Algarah-Pedong and Gorubathan subdivisions. That is why we are forming a separate Gorubathan subdivisional committee of the party,” said Tamang.
