Morcha hints at tie-up to defeat TMC

Bimal Gurung today said the sole aim of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the coming Assembly polls was the defeat of Trinamul and the hill party was ready to forge an alliance with the CPM or the Congress for the purpose.

CPM state secretary, Surjya Kanta Mishra, however, said the Morcha would have to snap ties with the BJP to form an alliance with the Left.

Talking to journalists at Dagapur, near Siliguri, this afternoon, the Morcha president said: " Trinamul ko jaise bhi ho harana hai (Trinamul has to be defeated anyhow)."

Gurung went on: "We had supported Trinamul in the 2011 Assembly polls and given a reply to the erstwhile (Left Front) government through the ballot after it had fired bullets at us. It seems the time has come again to give a befitting reply to the chief minister and Trinamul, who are indulging in the politics of division. We are in the process of devising a strategy to ensure Trinamul's defeat and will field candidates in the maximum possible Assembly seats across north Bengal. We are against the divisive politics and will soon organise a public meeting in Siliguri, in which people from different communities will participate in large numbers."

This is the second time in the past 24 hours that the Morcha chief has spoken in an aggressive manner against Trinamul. Yesterday, he had challenged Mamata to contest from any of the three Assembly seats in the hills.

Asked if the Morcha would ally with anti-Trinamul parties, Gurung did not rule out the possibility.

"There might be an alliance with the Congress or the CPM, but we will never tie up with Trinamul. The chief minister is doing politics in a dangerous manner in the hills by forming boards for different communities. She has never taken any such decision with regard to the plains where several minority communities live in. This shows she is resorting to divisive politics only in the hills. We will no longer let such politics work in the hills and will take all possible efforts to defeat her party in the Assembly elections," said the Morcha chief.

Gurung, a Morcha source said, would launch the election campaign highlighting peace and amity.

"He visited the Terai today and will tour the Dooars to kick-off our election campaign. The idea is to explain how the hills are suffering because of Trinamul's politics," the source said.

Told about Gurung's comment on an anti-Trinamul alliance, Surjya Kanta Mishra said in Siliguri: "They (Morcha) will have to snap its ties with the BJP and then, it can join hands with us. We cannot induct anybody who has ties with the BJP into our fold. Like we want Trinamul to be removed from power in the state, we want the BJP to be dislodged from the Centre."

Later in the evening, Morcha sources said the Terai committee of the party had been reshuffled and Shankar Adhikary was made the new president and Babu Lama the general secretary. In another development, P. Arjun rejoined the Morcha today. He was a central committee member of the Morcha.(TT)