Didi, Gurung patch up, hold meet for one hour

Amitava Banerjee, THT, 23 January 2014: Mamata Banerjee and Bimal Gurung’s political relation is back on track with both putting the ghost of hostility to rest. While Mamata insisted on Gurung to be by her side at all the functions and inauguration programmes attended by her in Darjeeling on Wednesday, Gurung was all praise for the chief minister.

A Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) delegation led by Gurung also met the chief minister and held a near one-hour meeting at Richmond Government Guest House, Darjeeling.

Gurung said, “The meeting was very positive. Our relation is good and so is the political scenario of Darjeeling.”

Questioned whether the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections featured in the meeting, Gurung said: “We did not talk on this subject. Maybe later we will hold discussions regarding Lok Sabha.”

In the recent past, GJM had made it clear that an alliance with Trinamool for the forthcoming parliamentary elections cannot be ruled out. The buzz doing the rounds in Hill political circles is that GJM could field Swaraj Thapa, a Delhi-based journalist as their candidate. Interestingly, even Swaraj Thapa was part of the GJM delegation that paid Mamata a visit at Richmond Hill on Wednesday.

Other members of GJM delegation included Roshan Giri, Trilok Dewan, Jyoti Rai, Col. (retd.) Ramesh Alay along with Gurung and Thapa. Though the GJM delegation did not delve into the details of the meeting, Gurung said he had requested the chief minister to take up the issue of the inclusion 10 Gorkha sub-communities in the Schedule Tribe List with the Centre. “She has assured us that she will immediately talk with the Union government,” said Gurung. The full-fledged functioning of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and various development projects were also discussed. “The chief minister discussed many projects. We will work hand-in-hand with the state government for all-round development of the Hills,” said Gurung. The lifting of charges clamped against GJM leaders and supporters, including GTA members, was also discussed in the meeting. With UPA giving green light to Telangana, Gurung on July 30 stepped down from the post of GTA chief and launched an agitation discarding GTA. A 44-day bandh ensued which also included education institutes. The government came down heavily on the agitation rushing central forces. More than a 1,000 GJM leaders and supporters were arrested in different cases. With the Hill economy in a shambles and the man on the street desperate for a respite from bandhs, Gurung finally lifted the bandh. Negotiations followed with the state and the Centre in the form of bipartite and tripartite talks in Kolkata. Gurung finally returned to GTA as chief on December 26, 2013.