Observers feel TMC may leave Darjeeling local polls to GJMM

SNS, Kurseong, 21 July 2014: To maintain a cordial relationship with the dominant party in the Hills, the Trinamul Congress is likely to leave the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) to have a say in the local polls in Darjeeling, observers in the Hills have said. Importantly, chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s statement she made at Chowrasta in Darjeeling on 17 July that she will not seek votes but people’s cooperation, is now being interpreted by observers as meaning that the Trinamul may not participate in the upcoming panchayat polls or any other local polls in the Hills. They also say that even if the TMC does take part in the polls, it may strike an alliance with the ruling GJMM.

The observers feel that earlier too, to make a cordial relationship with the GJMM, TMC candidates in the Hills, under the directives of Miss Banerjee, had withdrawn their nominations in the last minute in the first elections to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

“In a bid to have a good bonding with the hill dispensation, the TMC chief and the CM had sacrificed her party organization and that had left party activists in the Hills fuming. It was then that the GJMM was able to easily sideline other opposition party candidates had won all the 45 seats of the GTA,” an observer said.

The observers believe that the same scenario may repeat in the upcoming elections.

They further say that the frequent spat between the state government and the GJMM, and the Hill party’s move to support the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha elections have “mounted pressure” on the state government.

“As such, under these circumstances, the government is trying to find ways to keep the GJMM happy. Therefore, when the TMC has already tasted the election waters in Darjeeling even after fielding a candidate of the stature of Bhaichung Bhutia, the party knows that the GJMM should be left to fight the other elections, which will ultimately benefit the Hills and the TMC-led state government,” another observer said.

When asked, a senior Hill TMC leader, NB Khawas, however, said it is not election time at present, “and that is the reason why our chief said that she has not come here to ask for votes but as the chief minister of the state and also not as the TMC chief.” “When the time comes, we will, as members of the TMC, fight the elections,” he added.