Soccer clue to Bimal clout dip

Vivek Chhetri, TT,  Feb 24, 2018, Darjeeling: The final of a police-sponsored soccer tournament will be held next weekend at Tukvar, a former Bimal Gurung fief near Darjeeling where his supporters and cops had been clashing until a few months ago.

The March 4 fixture of the Kanchenjungha Football Tournament is likely to send yet another message about the elusive Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader's waning sway over the hills and assert the state government' authority.

K. Amarnath, SP (operations), Darjeeling said: "The finals will be held at Tukvar Football Ground on March 4. The tournament started in December last year as part of the efforts to build police-public relations."

The tournament carries the highest prize among all football contests in the region. "The winners will get Rs 1.5 lakh and the runners-up Rs 1 lakh," said Amarnath.

""People would run away from us. Even the children would not come forward. Now things have changed," Manoj Verma, inspector-general, Darjeeling, had said at the inauguration of the tournament in December.

On Sunday, the Gorkha Janmukti Yuwa Morcha, the Morcha youth wing, will organise a meeting in Darjeeling in a show of strength by those bearing allegiance to party chief Binay Tamang and his confidant Anit Thapa. This will be the first centralised meeting of the Yuwa Morcha after Tamang assumed charge.