The Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) had to face a major public embarrassment after Milesh Rai, who was elected to the Gorkhaland TerritorialAdministration (GTA) on a Trinamul Congress (TMC) ticket, was appointed the BGPM head of Mirik sub-division.

The appointment of Milesh has also exposed the BGPM-TMC alliance in the GTA election, even though both the parties had denied any such understanding before going to the polls. The TMC, however,is supporting BGPM “from outside” in the GTA. Sources said that the BGPM issued a letter on Wednesday appointing Milesh as the president of the Mirik sub-divisional committee (ref no 62/BGPM/CC/2022) on the “direction of central president Anit Thapa.”

However, on Thursday, the party again wrote a letter to Samir Rai, asking him to continue as the president of the Mirik sub-divisional committee. Milesh was hesitant to speak to this newspaper on Thursday but created more confusion when he confirmed that he was still the president of the BGPM of the Thurbo-Durptin constituency of Mirik. “I do not want to speak on this issue. I have already had a word on this issue with our party president Anit Thapa,” said Milesh.

When asked if he was a TMC GTA Sabha member, Milesh said: “I am the president of BGPM Thurbo-Durptinconstituency but contested the election on a Trinamul Congress ticket.”A senior BGPM leader said that the letter was not handed over to Milesh.