With the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha forming an alliance with the BJP, the Trinamool Congress moved quickly to strike a deal with Subas Ghising’s Gorkha National liberation Front (GNlF), party sources said.
Though considered a spent force in Darjeeling, “the GNlF still commands support of a sizeable section of the Hill people from the tribal dominated areas,” said a Trinamool leader from North Bengal. According to sources party’s charge de affairs for North Bengal Gautam Deb have been entrusted with the job of striking a deal with the GNlF.
While there was no confirmation from the GNlF side, the Trinamool sources said the ruling party was making efforts to secure Ghising’s stay in the Hills. The GNlF chief had a few years ago been banished from Darjeeling by GJM supremo Bimal Gurung and currently shuttles between Pintail village at Siliguri and Darjeeling.
On whether BJP’s alliance with GJM would make any impact this time round, Deb said, “The GJM is fast losing its strength in the Hills and its alliance with the BJP will hardly make any major impact on the Trinamool Congress, which has developed a good organisational strength in the Hills and will comfortably win the elections here.”
Trinamool has fielded former India football captain Baichung Bhutia from Darjeeling. The Bhutia’s constitute about 7 per cent population in the Hills. Together with them lepchas the original inhabitant of the area constitute about 14-15 per cent of the total number of votes.
lepchas have recently been won over by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who has formed an autonomous lepcha Development Council in Darjeeling much to the chagrin of the GJM.
If the GNlF allies with the Trinamool then it can easily poll about 20-24 per cent votes in its favour, feel the local Trinamool leadership insisting an addition of the caste Bengali vote could see the party through.
However, CPI(M) leader and former Minister Ashok Bhattacharya said the splitting of votes would benefit the left which has a healthy basket of about 40 per cent vote in Darjeeling constituency which comprises three blocks of Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling and four blocks of the Plains.
However, the local BJP leadership is euphoric not only because of the vital support it has gained from the GJM which has been a deciding factor in Darjeeling but also because of the support Gurung has declared for the saffron outfit in the neighbouring constituencies of Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar which have sizeable population of the Gorkhas.