Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Binay Tamang said on Tuesday that he will not share any administrative or political platform with GJM founder Bimal Gurung, who has emerged from political exile after three years. He announced this after meeting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the State Secretariat here.
The meeting comes in the wake of a political U-turn by Mr. Gurung who announced his support to Ms. Banerjee and severed his decade long ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “We are not going to share any administrative or political platform with Bimal Gurung,” Mr. Tamang told journalists at Gorkha Bhawan in Kolkata after meeting the Chief Minister.
Mr. Tamang was accompanied by Anit Thapa who heads the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the regional autonomous body of Darjeeling hills to the meeting. The GJM leader who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Darjeeling on a Trinamool Congress ticket said his meeting with the Chief Minister was fruitful and was on maintaining peace and stability in Darjeeling hills. “There is peace in Darjeeling for the past three years and we want the peace and stability to remain. Even today if you go to Darjeeling you will find many tourists,” he said.
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Mr. Tamang said that Mr. Gurung has been declared a proclaimed offender by a court and it is for the courts to decide his fate. The GJM leader blamed Mr. Gurung for the violence in the Darjeeling hills in 2017, which resulted in loss of both civilian life and security personnel.
Once a trusted aide of Mr. Gurung, both the leaders were together till 2017. It was during the violent agitation of 2017 in the hills over the demand of separate Gorkhaland that Mr. Gurung had to leave the hills and Mr. Tamang warmed up to the Trinamool Congress.
Ever since Mr. Gurung made a public appearance on October 21, the Darjeeling hills have been rife with speculations and rallies. Even on Tuesday when the hill leaders were meeting the Chief Minister, there was a rally in Darjeeling hills against Mr. Gurung. Supporters of Mr. Tamang have been holding rallies in Darjeeling hills saying Mr. Gurung was not welcome there. The support of both the hills leaders is crucial for the Trinamool Congress to make electoral gains in the hills which voted in favour of BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
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The BJP leadership has blamed Ms. Banerjee for the recent developments. “It is the Chief Minister who has orchestrated the division in the hills and she will have to set the house in order,” BJP national vice president Mukul Roy said.