CPM offers Morcha support

TT,  March 12: The Left today announced support for the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the three hill Assembly seats but a cautious Morcha declined to make any immediate comments.

"In the hill areas, we shall support that regional political party which is capable of defeating Trinamul," Jibesh Sarkar, the Left Front convener for Darjeeling district, told a news conference this afternoon.

"We may have differences over some issues with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, but we have decided to support them in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong."

The Morcha had joined hands with the CPM for the 2011 Assembly polls but this time it already has an electoral tie-up with the BJP.

Although the Morcha enjoys substantial support in the hills, CPM backing is certain to please its chief, Bimal Gurung, as he prepares to fight Mamata Banerjee in the elections.

Morcha sources said that Gurung had told party workers in the past few weeks that he would explore all possibilities to defeat Trinamul.

The Morcha has accused the chief minister of causing a split in the party by coaxing Harka Bahadur Chhetri, a former Morcha MLA, to float his own outfit.

While the CPM was open in voicing its support for the Morcha today, the hill party was circumspect.

Told about the CPM's offer, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said: "We cannot comment on the issue immediately."

Siliguri mayor and veteran CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya said the Left welcomed the "Morcha's objective of doing whatever possible to defeat Trinamul", which "coincides with our objective".

In an apparent olive branch to the Morcha, Bhattacharya had said a few days ago that the CPM would not field candidates in the region if it meant a split in anti-Trinamul votes.

Some politicians from Chhetri's Jan Andolan Party switched over to the Morcha today, possibly dealing a blow to Mamata's plans of making significant inroads in the hills by splitting the Morcha support base.

Sudip Karki today joined the Morcha along with seven other Jan Andolan Party leaders and around 200 of its workers from the Takdah-Teesta Valley area.

Karki was convener of the Parcha-Patta Demand Committee, a frontal organisation of the Jan Andolan Party that has been advocating land rights for tea garden and cinchona plantation workers. Nearly 60 per cent of the hills' 8.75 lakh people work in tea gardens and cinchona plantations.