GJMM will support TMC candidate: RB

SNS, Siliguri, 31 January 2014: The president of the Darjeeling-based Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM), Mr R B Rai, today said that the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) will support chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee’s Lok Sabha candidate for Darjeeling after all.

Mr Rai also said that prospects for Baichung Bhutia, the Trinamul Congress’ candidate in the Hills, are bright. Reacting to the GJMM’s decision to join Miss Banerjee’s rally in Kolkata, Mr Rai said: “The GJMM has been staging a drama in the name of development, while depriving the people in the Hills and dropping its demand for a separate statehood.”

“The GJMM will also stage another drama over the selection of its candidate for the Darjeeling LS seat,” he added.

The GJMM has said it will hold a meeting on 5 February and decide on the LS candidate and whether it would support other political parties, including the Trinamul Congress.

According to Mr Rai, the GJMM will name its candidate in the beginning to stage a drama, but that it will withdraw the candidate at the last minute, just to support Miss Banerjee’s pick.

“The prospects for the Trinamul candidate in the Hills are bright and he may win the LS seat because of Miss Mamata Banerjee’s present style of functioning,” he said.

Mr Rai, also a former MP from Darjeeling on the CPI-M ticket, added: “The Congress is still mum on its candidate for the Hills. But we suspect the party may indirectly support Mr Mahendra P Lama, who has already started campaigning here as an independent candidate.”

He said that though the All India Gorkha League (AIGL) has decided to support Mr Lama, “we have not yet decided on the matter.” “We will hold a meeting on the issue after the Election Commission’s notification and decide on whether we would contest the LS polls from Darjeeling or extend support to others,” Mr Rai said.