Morcha to contest hill polls for growth

VIVEK CHHETRI T T; Darjeeling, June 30: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today announced that it would contest the elections to the hill administrative set-up next month for the “sake of infrastructure development”. The decision to participate in the July 29 polls to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Sabha was announced by Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri after a five-hour meeting of the party’s central committee in Darjeeling. “The meeting was attended by our central committee leaders and also by Adivasi leader John Barla. It has been unanimously decided that the party will contest all 45 seats of the GTA Sabha,” Giri told a news conference. “We decided to contest the elections for the sake of infrastructure development. Moreover, (expelled Adivasi Vikas Parishad leader) Barla and the leaders of the Dooars-Terai Co-ordination Committee (of the Morcha) also spoke in favour of contesting the GTA elections,” he added. There were doubts over the Morcha’s participation in the GTA polls after the Justice Shyamal Sen committee recommended the inclusion of only five of the 396 plains mouzas that the party had demanded within the hill set-up. Morcha president Bimal Gurung had met Union home minister P. Chidambaram and chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the run-up to today’s meeting and said the talks had been “smooth”. The Morcha, however, is yet to decide if senior leaders such as Gurung would contest the elections. “During today’s meeting, it was decided that our party president would personally choose the candidates. It has not been decided whether senior leaders will contest the elections,” Giri said. A section of the Morcha leadership believes that Gurung should not enter the fray so that a message can be sent to supporters that the party is not making the GTA its final destination. Other leaders believe that without a senior leader at the helm, the GTA could find it difficult to carry out development work. Giri said the Morcha would not enter into any electoral alliance. Trinamul leader and north Bengal affairs minister Gautam Deb said his party would comment on the Morcha’s decision tomorrow. CPM leader and former minister Asok Bhattacharya said his party “knew all along” that the Morcha would contest the GTA polls.