Son poser on ABGL's removal of Bharati

TT, Siliguri, Oct. 12: Sanyog Tamang, the son of slain hill leader Madan Tamang and Bharati Tamang, the immediate past president of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, today questioned the decision by the party to remove his mother from her post.

On October 8, the ABGL had held a central committee meeting and announced that Bharati and three other leaders of the party had been suspended from their posts as they had violated a resolution adopted by the party. As per the resolution, the ABGL had to stay away from the second round of bipartite talks between hill parties and the Bengal government at Uttarkanya here on September 12.

Pratap Khati, the general secretary of the ABGL, had said the party had resolved not to take part in the talks but Bharati and three others had attended it.

Bharati was suspended for three months, "keeping in mind the contribution of late Madan Tamang to the Gorkhaland cause and the party".

Today, Sanyog, who had joined Trinamul earlier, said: "The ABGL is a president-based party and the general secretary has no authority to remove the president from the post. Most leaders of the central committee had attended the bipartite talks as an invitation had come to the ABGL from the chief minister."

"I belong to another party but the ABGL was formed by my father. Considering the manner in which she was removed from the post, I felt it is necessary to protest and apprise people of the wrong decision made by a few leaders of the party," said Sanyog.

Reacting to Sanyog's statement, Khati said: "He is from a different party and does not have a moral right to speak about the internal affairs of the ABGL. We suspect he had been asked by some Trinamul leaders to articulate his reaction so that pressure can be mounted on."