2014: TMC to go solo in Darjeeling

Madhuparna Das, IE, Kolkata, Thu Oct 10 2013: Amid the broadening rift between the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the Trinamool Congress in the last three months, the ruling party has decided to field its own candidate in Darjeeling parliamentary constituency in the 2014 general elections. 

This will be the first time the party will field a candidate in the Hills without support from any major political force. 

"Our party has decided to field candidate in every constituency in the state, including Darjeeling, which is important to us and so a candidate must be fielded there," North Bengal Development Minister Gautam Deb said. 

The minister, along with party general secretary Mukul Roy recently chaired a huge TMC-organised public meeting in Kurseong which saw over 1,000 GJM and GNLF leaders and workers switching sides to join the party. 

That meeting and Deb's other frequent visits to the hill town is largely seen as the ruling party's efforts to strengthen its organization there. 

"We have seen mainstream political parties winning Darjeeling with support from a major political party there. The district has always been ruled by one force and never had a democratic form of election. We want to bring democracy there. We will field our own candidate and let the people decide whom they want to bring in power," Deb added. 

The Morcha, meanwhile, claimed the TMC is still to find its base in the area. GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said: "They bring people over from the plains and say Morcha workers have joined them. They are misleading people." 

When asked about the possibility of the two parties reaching a common understanding before the general elections, Giri said: "Nothing has been decided in this regard. We are looking forward to the tripartite meeting post which the central committee will decide and discuss these issues." TMC and GJM had fought the 2011 Assembly elections together.