Displaying remarkable political astuteness, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which is fighting for a separate Gorkhaland in the Hills, is simultaneously supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress-Trinamul Congress combine in the coming Assembly election in Bengal. The state BJP president Rahul Sinha claimed that the GJM and the BJP had entered into an agreement.
The BJP had agreed to leave four seats including Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong for GJM while deciding to fight six seats in the plains of Dooars and Terai.
However, the GJM leadership changed their mind. GJM general secretary Roshan Giri announced last week that his party would back the BJP only in Madarihat constituency and would support the Congress and Trinamul Congress candidates in over half a dozen seats in the plains of Jalpaiguri district. “This is a unique arrangement reflecting GJM’s political opportunism. Bimal Gurung wants to eat his cake and have it too,” CPI(M) spokesman Mohammad Salim said.
As if confirming his charges, GJM leadership roped in BJP MP from Darjeeling Jaswant Singh to campaign for party candidates in the hills. Although the state BJP was sore with the GJM for its decision to back Congress-Trinamul Congress combine, Mr Singh dismissed it as irrelevant.
“Supporting the Trinamul Congress is a political decision of the GJM. It will not affect our alliance with it,” he added. Mr Singh was obviously repaying his debt to the GJM without whose support he could not have won from Darjeeling.
The GJM had facilitated Mr Singh’s victory expecting the BJP to sympathetically consider their demand. However, their calculations went awry and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) did not come to power in 2009. “In deseperation, they are now banking on the UPA government. A year ago they had said that they had struck a deal with Mamata Banerjee during her visit to Darjeeling. Now the cat has come out of the bag,” Mr Salim said. Clearly embarrassed, Trinamul Congress chief claimed that she had not sought GJM support for the Assembly polls. She even smelt a CPI(M) conspiracy in this.