Ajoy Edwards to announce formation of new party today

Agencies, 5 NOVEMBER 2024 : Ajoy Edwards, the founder of Hamro Party based out of the hills in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, will announce the formation of a new political party in the hills on Wednesday. According to him, the Hamro Party will cease to exist from Wednesday and instead, a new political party will surface. 

"We are having trouble in getting the Hamro Party reg-istered as a political force and hence, we have made a decision on this count," said Edwards on Tuesday. It is learnt that the former member of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) will be part of the new political party. The other members will include some prominent leaders of Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) including a former legislator from that party and the owner of a popular hill-based local television channel, among others. 

Talks are also on with another leader from the hills and the founder of the Jana Andolon Party Harka Bahadur Chhetri. 

According to Edwards, one of the two prime objectives of the proposed new political force would be the revival of movement in demand of the separate Gorkhaland state including the hills scattered over Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong and the plains of Terai and Dooars regions. 

The second objective will be starting a movement against rampant corruption in the functioning of GTA, which is currently controlled by Anit Thapa led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), which has an understanding with the ruling Trinamool Congress. In the Parliamentary elections this year, Edwards threw his full weight behind the Congress candidate Munish Tamang, while BGPM backed Trinamool Congress candidate and former bureaucrat Gopal Lama. 

However, neither Tamang nor Lama got elected and the winner for the second consecutive term was BJP's Raju Basta, who received the backing of GJM. In the polls this year, the BJP legislator from Kurseong Assembly constituency Bishnu Prasad Sharma contested as an Independent candidate expressing grievance against BJP for fielding "outsider" candidates from Darjeeling again and again.