Bimal awaits SC order; .... Gurung to hold a meeting on 9 March

MANAS R BANNERJEE, SNS, SILIGURI: Fugitive leader of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM), Bimal Gurung, is set to hold a meeting with his party's'core committee' members on 9 March to take a call on their stand on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, vis-a-vis the Darjeeling seat, sources in the know have said. The sources, however, did not say where the meeting would take place.

Mr Gurung and his close associates are also eagerly waiting tor a "positive observation ' from the Supreme Court in a hearing scheduled to be held tomorrow on several cases slapped against him by the state government the sources said, adding that the Gurung camp has also decided "not to back- sitting Darjeeling MP and BJP leader, SS Ahluwalia, this time around.

"Bimal Gurung can chalk out a political strategy freely and extend support to a political party and its candidate if the Supreme Court's observations go in his favour," one source said.

"His followers are expecting at least a stay order for a few months so that the administration here cannot arrest him in any of the cases related to the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation and the violence that was seen back then.

'Though nothing has been finalised on the Darjeeling LS seat, it has been decided that Bimal Gurung, significantly, will not support and even not allow sitting M P SS Ahluwalia to contest elections from here this time," according to the source.

It is learnt that Mr Gurung has expressed unhappiness about Mr Ahluwalia's recent failure to fix an appointment for him with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while the fugitive leader labelled the Darjeeling MP, who is also the union minister of state for electronics and IT, as a

"betrayer".

"Mr Gurung and his followers were upset after they witnessed Ahluwalia's behavior. They argued with the MP and said how Mukul Roy, who is allegedly under the scanner of the CBI on the chit fund scam cases, can meet the PM frequently, and how Gurung cannot meet him just because he has charges against him under the UAPA 'Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act," the source said.

Sources further claimed that Mr Gurung and his associates have now virtually snapped relations with Ahluwalia and have started meeting other BJP leaders including BJP national president, Amit Shah, and union home minister Rajnath Singh.

"Gurung, who still wants to support the BJP emotionally, expressed unhappiness over the present MP and even invited Amit Shah to contest from Darjeeling if he seriously wants to bag a decent number of seats in Bengal," the sources said.

A Morcha leader, who is close to Gurung, and who met Mr Ahluwalia officially on several issues, including the demand for tribal status to 11 communities in the Hills said: "Nothing has be finalised yet. We still do not know who will contest from Darjeeling on a BJP ticket. But there is no second chance for the present MP because he has been a betrayer.The matter of Satpalji Maharaj has not been finalised."