Kalimpong, April 7: Two former
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders and around 400 people from the hills and
plains joined the Trinamul Congress at a workers’ meeting in Kalimpong
today in the presence of Trinamul senior leaders Mukul Roy and Gautam
Deb.
Namita Gautam, a
former Kalimpong branch president of the Nari Morcha, and Pravin
Rahapal, a former member of the Morcha’s central committee, were made
Trinamul’s Darjeeling hills women’s wing president and Darjeeling hills
secretary respectively.
To the chants of Vande Mataram, Trinamul all-India general secretary Mukul Roy gave party flags to the new members.
North Bengal
development minister Gautam Deb, Trinamul’s Darjeeling hills convenor
Rajen Mukhia and Kalimpong branch president Chewang Bhutia were present
at the programme held at the Kalimpong Government High School grounds
today.
Mukhia said 400 people, among them several Morcha supporters, joined Trinamul today.
Addressing the
1,000-odd gathering, both Namita and Rahapal accused the Morcha of
settling for the GTA by sacrificing the Gorkhaland demand. They said if
the development of the hills was the only issue (for the Morcha),
Trinamul was best suited for that purpose.
Rahapal accused Morcha president Bimal Gurung of nepotism and deceit in a speech that was greeted with an applause.
“We thought Bimal
Gurung will play a role like that of UPA chairperson by not being a part
of the GTA. But he is in it, his wife is in it and also his son-in-law.
The Morcha has become his family’s party,” he said.
Gurung’s wife and son-in-law are both executive Sabha members of the hill body.
Rahapal, who was
expelled from the Morcha last month for anti-party activities, said
Gurung had publicly sworn that he would not settle for anything less
than Gorkhaland, but he eventually settled for the GTA because of his
love for the chair.
“If you (Gurung)
ever manage to deliver Gorkhaland, I will leave the hills for good. If I
don’t, you can ask your people to chase me out,” Rahapal said.
Namita said she had decided to join Trinamul because she had confidence in the leadership of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“The Morcha
accepted the GTA for the sake of development. I have joined Trinamul
because it can do a better job of ensuring development,” she said.
Namita had quit the Morcha earlier this month.
Morcha secretary
Roshan Giri accused the duo of betraying the cause of statehood and said
their joining Trinamul would not affect the hill party.
“They have
betrayed the cause of Gorkhaland. They have joined a party, which is
opposed to Gorkhaland. Their joining Trinamul will make no difference to
our party,” he said.
Mukul Roy today promised to work for peace, development and progress in the region.
“Peace and tranquillity must prevail in the hills …We want Darjeeling to move forward and progress,” he said.
The Telegraph
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