CM set to arrive today; churnings in Hill TMC? Hill TMC President Shanta Chettri refutes reports of her resignation

SNS, SILIGURI, 10 JULY 2022: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to arrive at the Bagdogra Airport in Siliguri in a private plane tomorrow and leave for Darjeeling immediately after landing, sources said today.

According to official sources, Miss Banerjee will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Sabhasad-elects for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) scheduled for Tuesday at Chowrastha. The CM will also take part in celebrations of the 208th birth anniversary of pioneer Nepali poet Bhanu Bhakta Acharya at Chowarastha on 13 July.

Official sources said the district administration in Darjeeling, in association with the GTA and some schools, colleges and ot her organizations, will organise the Bhanu Jayanti function on 13 July. Miss Banerjee is scheduled to return to Kolkata on 14 July, sources said, however, adding that there is no official programme of the chief minister in Siliguri "as of now."

Ahead of the CM's visit, Hill-based political party leaders as well as other political party leaders, including the BJP, will keep a close eye on her stand on the munch-talked about 'permanent political solution' for Gorkhas, at a time when a new political party, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), and its GTA members under the leadership of Anit Thapa is set to form the GTA Sabha.

Notably, a section of political parties as well as a section of the Hill people, who say the only permanent political solution for the region is a separate state of Gorkhaland, are still against the GTA.

On the other hand, ahead of the CM's visit to Darjeeling a differences of opinion among leaders of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) have surfaced, even as reports of TMC (Hills) president and Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Chhetri tendering her resignation from the top party post. As news of her purported resignation went viral on social media, Ms Chettri quickly released a press statement and refuted the same. A Bengall daily had today carried a story on her resignation.

"Ms Chhetri, who was the former MLA with the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), is more powerful in the Hills now as she is associated with Standing Committees of the Central Government.

Since Ms Chhetri has been carrying out party work involving a few people, a majority of her party leaders and workers are against her," a source said.

While a TMC insider speculated that she would be replaced by some other Hill leader, a political observer said: "The matter comes to fore just ahead of the CM's visit. In fact, a group of aspirants, who want to become the party president here, may have hatched a conspiracy to irritate Ms Chhetri."

"It was only yesterday that Ms Chhetri even did some work in the interest of the Hill people with state government officials yesterday," the observer added.