Siliguri, March 13:
Trinamul Congress leader Mukul Roy today said his party would align
with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to contest the panchayat elections in
the Dooars and Terai, although the tribal outfit led by John Barla would
also share seats with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the region.
The JMM had said
earlier that it would ally with the Morcha in the tea gardens of the
plains and Trinamul in the rest of the region.
The announcement
of the alliance between the JMM and Trinamul was announced by Roy and
Barla separately after the two met at Malbazar today.
“We are forging an
alliance with Trinamul. We will field candidates in tea gardens where
Trinamul lacks base and will support Trinamul candidates in other parts
of the Terai and Dooars,” Barla said after the meeting.
Asked about the
JMM’s tie-up with the Morcha, Barla said: “It is true that we have an
alliance with the Morcha but Trinamul leaders have said during the
discussion that they have no reservations about it. In the next few
days, we will discuss and sort out the number of seats to be contested
by each party (in all three tiers of panchayat).”
Minister Gautam
Deb, and Padam Lama who had quit the Morcha and joined Trinamul were
also present at the 40-minute long meeting.
Trinamul and the JMM had started the alliance talks in November when Deb met Barla at Mongpong.
Later, the matter was again discussed when Barla called on chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Calcutta last month.
Mukul Roy said Trinamul was not bothered about the JMM’s tie-up with the Morcha.
“The JMM led by
John Barla is a regional political organisation. We are not concerned
over with whom they have forged an alliance. We need them in places
where we lack organisational strength. They mooted a proposal for an
alliance and we have approved it. Minister Gautam Deb will hold further
talks with JMM leaders and in the next two-three days, we hope that
there will be an understanding on the number of seats to be shared by
each party in the panchayat election,” said Roy.
Observers said the alliance with Barla betrayed Trinamul’s desperation to win tribal votes in the Dooars and Terai.
“Trinamul has
agreed to the alliance despite the fact that the JMM has tied up with
the Morcha and is holding meetings with the hill party on a regular
basis. This indicates Trinamul’s desperation to make inroads into the
tribal belt. Trinamul minister Deb’s meeting with the leaders of the
Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad yesterday didn’t yield any
result. The Parishad leaders were supposed to meet Mukul Roy today, but
for whatever reasons, it didn’t happen. Trinamul didn’t wait and went
ahead to forge an alliance with Barla,” said an observer.
The Telegraph ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY OUR JALPAIGURI CORRESPONDENT
Post a Comment
We love to hear from you! What's on your mind?