Is a bonhomie between the Trinamul Congress and Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) in the offing?
Although both Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and GJM chief Bimal Gurung appeared to be non-committal over the possible tie-up before the Assembly polls, the gestures exchanged between them on Sunday indicated so.
Ms Banerjee who has come on a two-day visit to Darjeeling in a “peace mission”, received a rousing welcome by hundreds of GJM supporters as soon as she arrived at the Hill Cart Road leading to Darjeeling. The GJM activists presented her an “uttariya” and shouted slogans: “We want Gorkhaland...Mamata Banerjee zindabad...Bimal Gurung zindabad.”
The visit assumes a political significance in the wake of the GJM’s sustained agitation for a separate state which has be carved out of Bengal, and the crucial support from the hills which will decide the fate of the Trinamul Congress candidates in three constituencies in the coming Assembly elections.
North Bengal, a Marxist bastion till the other day, has of late developed chinks in the armour and Ms Banerjee is determined to capitalise on it to bolster her chances to come to power in the state. Significantly, in the recent civic elections, the Congress-Trinamul Congress combine had ousted the Left Front from the Siliguri municipal board and in a by-election at Kalchini in the Dooars, the combine had also defeated the Left Front candidate.