Trinamul Congress leaders in the Darjeeling hills were disappointed that they were not invited to a government programme to commemorate the birth anniversary of Nepali poet Bhanubhakta Acharya here on Tuesday.

Anit Thapa, the general secretary of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s Binay Tamang camp, was present at the event.

Rajya Sabha member and senior Trinamul leader Shanta Chhetri has written to party supremo Mamata Banerjee and MP Abhishek Banerjee on the importance given to Thapa and the message that the invite sent across the hills.

Thapa does not hold any official position. But Trinamul has two hill leaders with formal positions —MP Chhetri and Mirik municipality chairman L.B. Rai.

Neither of the two Trinamul leaders had been invited to the event jointly organised by the information and cultural affairs department of the state government and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. Two other hill leaders, Binay Tamang and Bimal Gurung, who are both backed by Trinamul, were also left out.

“On what basis was Anit Thapa invited? If he was invited as a former administrator of the GTA, then, we have two other leaders (Gurung and Tamang) who occupied the same chair,” Chhetri told The Telegraph.

The Trinamul MP, however, chose to blame “politically inclined GTA officials” for the alleged faux pas.

“The GTA officials deliberately did not invite me nor was Sri. L.B. Rai, Chairman of Mirik Municipality and other local TMC leaders who are working day in and out for the party ,” complained Chhetri in the letter.

Trinamul leaders have been working against odds to establish themselves in the hills but Thapa’s presence at the event seems to have demoralised them.

Chhetri was of the opinion that Thapa was invited “so that a message goes to the local people how much faith the top leaders of the state have on such leaders”.

Many observers believe Thapa managed to send a strong message in the hills at a time when Tamang and Gurung are also in a race to prove their closeness to Mamata Banerjee. In the present political situation, such a message could have a strong bearing.

The ramification of this message was not lost on Trinamul leaders.

Chhetri said that “rumour mills had already started working” that Mamata has faith in Anit Thapa and that the CMO had contacted Thapa to attend the event.

The Trinamul leaders tried to assuage this fear and said they knew this was not the case.

“This is simply rumour mongering but no one can prevent such doing the round (sic),” wrote Chhetri adding that this “can never be true.”

In the last Bengal Assembly election, the state Trinamul leadership had decided not to field any candidates in the three hill seats and leave it to their “friends (Tamang and Gurung)” to field their own candidates.

The hill Trinamul leaders, however, decided to back Gurung’s candidates. Gurung’s candidates, however, came third in all the three hill seats, while Tamang’s candidate came second in Darjeeling and Kurseong and managed to win the Kalimpong seat- the first such win after the faction was formed in 2017.

Trinamul hill leaders had told this newspaper that they had decided to back Gurung’s candidates on instruction from Prashant Kishore’s I-PAC team.

“Shanta Chhetri’s strongly worded letter is an indication of the apprehension among hill TMC leaders following yesterday’s development,” said an observer.

Even though Chhetri tried to blame the “GTA officials”, sources in the administration said that they had not issued any invitation and all invitees were probably asked to attend by higher-ups.

The other political invitees at the Chowrasta event included Gautam Deb, administrator, Siliguri Municipal Corporation, and Bulu Baraik, minister of state, backward classes and tribal department, leaders who occupy official positions.

Even Baraik said that he was asked to attend the event by Mamata Banerjee.

“No officials can dare take a decision on the invitee list given its sensitivity,” said an observer.