Morcha rebels line up rally in plains

Binay Tamang

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT,  Kalimpong, Dec. 23: The Binay Tamng faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today decided to hold its first public meeting in the foothills on January 21 where it is yet to taste the waters even though a few known faces like Tshering Dahal are in its group.

In a release issued here, Jyoti Kumar Rai, the assistant secretary of the party, said a meeting of the party's central committee at Deolo, about five kilometers from here, decided to hold the meeting at Sukna, which is on the fringes of Siliguri. The meeting also appointed Dahal, who hails from Sukna, as the coordinator of Nari Morcha, the women's wing of the party.

This will be the first public meeting of the Morcha rebels in the Dooars and Terai. The faction has already held meetings in various places in the hills to mixed public responses. "Most leaders in the plains hardly have any support base of their own. The meeting essentially will be a test of Binay and Anit Thapa's popularity in the plains," said a political analyst.

A decision by NB development minister Rabindranath Ghosh to serve notices to around 18 construction firms which were assigned with projects by his department for poor quality of work has widened the rift among him and state tourism minister Gautam Deb.

The reason: Ghosh has categorically mentioned that none of the projects were assigned to these firms during his tenure but during the tenure of Deb, who is at present tourism minister of Bengal.

He was the NB development minister during the first five years of the Trinamul government.