Bimal camp to field Hill seat candidates, help TMC in others

REZA PRADHAN, SNS, DARJEELING. 5 MARCH 21: The Gorkha Jan Mutki Morcha's Bimal Gurung faction today said that it would field its own candidates in the three Hill seats for the upcoming Assembly elections.

The decision of the camp comes just ahead of Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee announcing that her party would leave the Hill seats open.

In a press release, the Morcha camp's general secretary, Roshan Giri, said, "The three Hill seats of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling are a matter of self-respect, where we will field our own candidates and fight on our own capacity. As per an electoral understanding, in the 14 seats, mainly in the Terai and the Dooars, we will support TMC candidates."

Both factions of the Morcha, the other led by Binoy Tamang, have been maintaining that they am in alliance with the TMC for the Assembly elections.

As Miss Banerjee today announced the names of the candidates, she said "our friends" would contest from the three Hill seats, but did not specify whom she was referring to. She also said that those contesting in the three hill seats were with them and that they were supporting their party in other places.

The Tamang faction of the Morcha, on the other hand, is also most likely to field its own party candidates. Many leaders of the faction, however, could not be contacted today for comment.

Leaders of the Tamang camp have been maintaining that Miss Banerjee, in the past, had an understanding that they would support the TMC during the MP elections and in return the TMC would support them in the MLA elections. Attar Singh Rai of the Tamang camp had contested on a TMC ticket during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, while Mr Tamang himself had contested the Darjeeling Assembly by-elections that very year, supported by the TMC.

Asked about this understanding, the Morcha's (Gurung camp) central committee leader, Prakash Gurung said, "We are supporting TMC candidates in the Terai and the Dooars areas, so they will support us here. As for the understanding between the TMC and the Tamang camp, they have a bitter experience as they had lost. That is the reason they are in alliance with us."

Political analysts are of the opinion that with both the Morcha factions being TMC alliance parties, fielding their own candidates would create confusion among the people and could prove disadvantageous to the TMC with votes being divided. Although some also feel that the TMC could stand to gain in the end as they could side with whoever emerges victorious in these seats.

"With many supporters of the Bimal camp not willing to vote for the TMC, this step of them fielding their own candidates would prove beneficial for them," said an observer.

On the other hand, the 3rd faction of the All India Gorkha League (Laxman camp) today announced it would field its candidates in the three seats. Incidentally, the AIGL (Bharati camp) had recently announced contesting from the three seats, while the Pratap Khati faction of the party is in alliance with the BJP.