The Trinamool Congress on Friday got a shot in the arm with veteran Hill leader Subas Ghising deciding to support soccer prodigy Baichung Bhutia who is contesting on its ticket from Darjeeling lok Sabha seat.
Though a spent up force in the Hills Ghising, a onetime mentor and now sworn enemy of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Bimal Gurung who is backing BJP candidate SS Ahluwalia, controls 5-6 per cent vote, which can be crucial in view of a 5-cornered contest in Darjeeling.
Ghising, the chief of Gorkha National liberation Front, had led a bloody struggle for separate Gorkhaland in 1980s which ended in the historic Darjeeling Accord and formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council of which the septuagenarian leader was the chairman. The DGHC was dissolved after the Mamata-Gurung accord and formation of Gorkhaland Territorial Authority.
GNlF central committee member Dhiren lama on Friday said that his party had decided to respond to a Trinamool Congress appeal to support Bhutia adding he would expect the Government to revive the DGHC “which was never dissolved officially.”
Darjeeling is this time witnessing a keen contest with the BJP, Congress, left Front, Trinamool Congress and Independent candidate and a former JNU professor Mahendra lama engaging each other in a five-cornered battle where a few thousand votes could matter.
Apart from Ghising’s GNlF, another outfit from the Plains that is supporting the TMC candidate making the competition for Ahluwalia a tad difficult this time round is the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad which has a large chunk of voters in the tea gardens.