Gurung hints at GJMM-Congress tie-up

KURSEONG, 8 APRIL: The Darjeeling Hills are agog with speculations about a possible 2014 Lok Sabha election tie-up between the Congress and the GJMM following the Hill-based party’s president, Mr Bimal Gurung, having thrown hints in the presence of the Union Rural Development Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, in Darjeeling yesterday.

Mr Gurung said his party might throw its weight behind the Congress but he added that the support would be conditional. Though he did not elaborate on the conditions, according to party insiders, the president would seek commitment from the Congress on their demand for either a separate state of Gorkhaland or Union Territory status for the Hilly terrain of West Bengal.

When GJMM leaders insisted on the Congress accepting their longstanding demands, Mr Ramesh skirted the emotive issue, saying he would like the GJMM to remain single-minded on transforming the Hills developmentally. The Centre is ready to consider any demand related to the developmental aspirations of the Hill people, he said. However, he stopped short of throwing his weight behind the party’s clamour for statehood or Union Territory status.

“I think the focus of the GJMM should remain exclusively on development of the long-neglected region through the instrumentality of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) for at least the next five to 10 years, skirting their other political demands,” he said.

The UT status for the Hills is a long-standing demand and the Congress has supported the demand on several occasions in the past. Hill-based politicians claimed that the Congress had almost committed itself to the Union Territory status for the Hills during the Rajiv Gandhi regime. However, the party later backtracked following opposition to the move from the then Left Front government under Jyoti Basu.

However, observers feel that the GJMM hinting at support for the Congress is a tactical move mooted against the backdrop of the Congress and the Trinamul Congress remaining at loggerheads. 

SNS