Kolkata/Darjeeling: Union home minister Amit Shah described Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung as a “leader fighting for the Gorkha cause” even after he pulled out of the NDA a fortnight ago and pledged his support to chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Instead, Shah targeted Banerjee for slapping 150-odd criminal cases on the Gorkha leader, calling it a glaring instance of “political vendetta”.
“Bimal Gurung is fighting for the Gorkha cause as he was doing earlier. But I would like to ask chief minister Mamata Banerjee why she initiated so many criminal cases against Gurung. This is a glaring instance of political vendetta,” Shah said.
Shah’s comment came at a time when the Gurung faction on Friday said the outfit would field candidates in all three Hills seats in the coming assembly elections. "We are not aware of the understanding between the Tamang group and Trinamool,” GJM central committee member Tilak Chandra Roka said, hinting that the new equation of a united fight between BJP and TMC-Tamang-Gurung is unlikely.
Seniors of the Gurung faction claimed that the proposal to Gurung had come from Banerjee’s end and not the other way round. “She (Trinamool chief) made the offer after she came to know that only our party president can restore peace and stability in the Hills,” Roka said.
The Gurung faction also made it clear that it will pursue the demand for a permanent solution in the Hills and granting of ST status to 11 Gorkha communities. “It is our constitutional right,” Roka said.
GJM (Binay) leader Binay Tamang and Gorkhaland Territorial Administration leader Anit Thapa, on the other hand, gave an opposite picture to the flow of things at Bagdogra airport on Friday. Tamang didn’t elaborate on TMC’s relation with Gurung and also about his possible return to the Hills.
(Inputs from Roshan Gupta in Siliguri)
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