Youth wing of Harka's party reshuffled

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, Kalimpong: Yuwa Ekai, the youth wing of the Jana Andolan Party (JAP), has been reconstituted following the resignations of its top brass two days ago.

The new set of office-bearers of the youth young will be headed by Biru Tamang as its president.

Gautam Tamang will be the vice-president, Bhupendra Rai secretary and Naresh Kumar Rai its spokesman.

"Our reconstituted committee will also have 24-member executive members," Bhupendra told reporters here on Friday.

Four top rung leaders of the Yuwa Ekai, including president Pankaj Chhetri, vice-president Arpan Gurung, secretary Amir Basnet and spokesman Sandip Rai, had resigned from their posts as well as the party on Wednesday, citing differences with the leadership over the party's failure to live up to its ideals.

Speculations are rife that the four would be joining the Binay Tamang faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the next few days, which even the new Yuwa Ekai leadership alluded to in their interaction with the media.

"Our friends talk about the absence of democracy in our party. They discovered this after Binay Tamang was made the chairman of the GTA's board of administrators. For them, democracy means money," said the new Yuwa Ekai president.

Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa are slated to arrive here late on Friday on what is expected to be a two-day visit.

Their associates here said they were coming to galvanise supporters, who had been lying low since the death of Barun Bhujel, a councillor of the Kalimpong municipality and staunch Bimal Gurung follower.

"They will also give a fillip to developmental activities in the Kalimpong district," said an associate.

Gurung has been on the run ever since he was implicated in a number of cases.