+to+support+Bharatiya+Janata+Party+(BJP).png "Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) to support Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)")
Following the decision of Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) to support
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the three Lok Sabha constituencies of
Darjeeling, Alipurduwar and Jalpaiguri, the prospects of Trinamul
Congress candidates in these three areas have gone bleak, feel leaders
across party lines in north Bengal.
The leaders say this situation has emerged even though GJMM president Bimal Gurung has “lost absolute control” over the Gorkha community in this region.
Leaders of the other political parties also predict that the vote bank in the Darjeeling parliamentary segment, including the three Assembly constituencies, will be divided among other mainstream political parties and that the GJMM-backed BJP candidate has his task cut out. Trinamul Congress candidate Baichung Bhutia and others, including CPI-M candidate Saman Pathak and Independent candidate Mahendra P Lama are also very much in the fray, while the Congress is yet to name its candidate there.
“GJMM’s decision to support BJP has apparently narrowed down the Trinamul candidate’s prospects in the Hills, but this does not mean that the BJP candidate will be able to taste win easily because Bimal Gurung does not have supreme control over all Gorkha people,” a senior Congress leader, Debaprasad Roy, said.
“So we should not expect election results similar to the ones in 2009 when Jaswant Singh was elected from Darjeeling,” he added.
According to him, the party high command will soon declare the name of its candidate for the Darjeeling seat. North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb said GJMM’s decision to support BJP is aimed at dividing Bengal.
“My party candidate Baichung Bhutia will contest from Darjeeling with an undivided Bengal as his theme. People from both the Hills and the plains will favour us. GJMM no longer has the support base in the Hills and even in the plains (four Assembly segments) that it enjoyed earlier,” Mr Deb said. However, All India Gorkha League vice-president Laxman Pradhan said: “GJMM has made a blunder in supporting BJP for the Darjeeling seat. Since GJMM will run the GTA in association with the Mamata Banerjee-led state government, Gurung should have extended support to the Trinamul Congress candidate.”
“If the poll results go against Mamata Banerjee, she will take revenge against GJMM, and the Hill people would ultimately suffer. The Morcha now has no supreme control over the people in the Hills,” he added.
“Looking at it through a narrow mind, GJMM’s decision to support BJP will go in favour of our two candidates in Alipurduar and Jalpaigur. But politically speaking, we cannot encourage such support to BJP because we are fighting to prevent BJP from coming to power,” the Jalpaiguri district Left Front convernor and the CPI-M district secretary Krishna Banerjee said. “We will wait and see how the political trend unfolds. We will contest two LS seats and we are confident of our candidates retaining two seats in Jalpaiguri district,” he said.
The Hill-based Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists spokesperson Gobin Chhetri said: “CPRM will not support the Trinamul candidate and the GJMM-backed BJP candidate may not be able to bag a remarkable number of votes.”(SNS)
The leaders say this situation has emerged even though GJMM president Bimal Gurung has “lost absolute control” over the Gorkha community in this region.
Leaders of the other political parties also predict that the vote bank in the Darjeeling parliamentary segment, including the three Assembly constituencies, will be divided among other mainstream political parties and that the GJMM-backed BJP candidate has his task cut out. Trinamul Congress candidate Baichung Bhutia and others, including CPI-M candidate Saman Pathak and Independent candidate Mahendra P Lama are also very much in the fray, while the Congress is yet to name its candidate there.
“GJMM’s decision to support BJP has apparently narrowed down the Trinamul candidate’s prospects in the Hills, but this does not mean that the BJP candidate will be able to taste win easily because Bimal Gurung does not have supreme control over all Gorkha people,” a senior Congress leader, Debaprasad Roy, said.
“So we should not expect election results similar to the ones in 2009 when Jaswant Singh was elected from Darjeeling,” he added.
According to him, the party high command will soon declare the name of its candidate for the Darjeeling seat. North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb said GJMM’s decision to support BJP is aimed at dividing Bengal.
“My party candidate Baichung Bhutia will contest from Darjeeling with an undivided Bengal as his theme. People from both the Hills and the plains will favour us. GJMM no longer has the support base in the Hills and even in the plains (four Assembly segments) that it enjoyed earlier,” Mr Deb said. However, All India Gorkha League vice-president Laxman Pradhan said: “GJMM has made a blunder in supporting BJP for the Darjeeling seat. Since GJMM will run the GTA in association with the Mamata Banerjee-led state government, Gurung should have extended support to the Trinamul Congress candidate.”
“If the poll results go against Mamata Banerjee, she will take revenge against GJMM, and the Hill people would ultimately suffer. The Morcha now has no supreme control over the people in the Hills,” he added.
“Looking at it through a narrow mind, GJMM’s decision to support BJP will go in favour of our two candidates in Alipurduar and Jalpaigur. But politically speaking, we cannot encourage such support to BJP because we are fighting to prevent BJP from coming to power,” the Jalpaiguri district Left Front convernor and the CPI-M district secretary Krishna Banerjee said. “We will wait and see how the political trend unfolds. We will contest two LS seats and we are confident of our candidates retaining two seats in Jalpaiguri district,” he said.
The Hill-based Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists spokesperson Gobin Chhetri said: “CPRM will not support the Trinamul candidate and the GJMM-backed BJP candidate may not be able to bag a remarkable number of votes.”(SNS)