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| Mamata, Bimal |
March 21: Mamata Banerjee today invited Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung to meet her in Calcutta on March 24 apparently to seek his party’s support for the March 30 Rajya Sabha polls.
Trinamul leaders said the chief minister would try to persuade Gurung to withdraw his party’s decision to abstain from voting in the Upper House polls and boycotting the Assembly and instead back Trinamul in the crucial election.
A senior leader of the Morcha, which has four MLAs, said in Darjeeling said this afternoon: “Our president has accepted the invitation and decided to leave for Calcutta on March 23. Roshan Giri, L.B. Pariyar and Anit Thapa will accompany him.”
Trinamul sources said north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb got in touch with Gurung after industries minister Partha Chatterjee called him up and requested him to pass on Mamata’s invite to the Morcha chief. “I spoke to Bimal Gurung and he confirmed that he would be present in Calcutta on March 24. But I did not discuss the issue of the Rajya Sabha polls with him,” Deb said.
Trinamul is pulling out all stops to pool in as many votes as possible for its candidate for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat and the Morcha’s support is crucial to help the ruling party get past the winning post. On the strength of its 184 MLAs in the Assembly, Trinamul will get three of the five seats for which the polls will be held.
“It is essential to secure as many votes as possible for our fourth nominee,” a Trinamul leader said. “So if we can persuade the Morcha to make a turnaround and agree to vote for us, it will help us.”
At a meeting held in Mongpoo, 38km downhill from Darjeeling, on Sunday, the Morcha had decided to boycott the Assembly and abstain from voting in the Rajya Sabha polls to protest the state government’s decision to hold elections to the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration before the issue of territory expansion is sorted out.
It had also expressed its disappointment at Mamata turning down its request for a Rajya Sabha berth.“The state government is betraying us. Since 1952, nine MPs from the hills have been sent to the Rajya Sabha. But this time, the new government tried to play with our identity by not sending anyone from the hills,” Gurung had said.
Morcha general secretary Giri today refused to say whether it would reconsider its decision in case the chief minister made the request. “It is a sensitive issue and I would not like to comment on it,” he said.However, in case the Congress pulls out of the fray and decides to back Trinamul — such indications emerged this evening — the Morcha’s support will not be required.
“Till such time as the Congress takes a final call and makes an official announcement, we cannot take it (the Rajya Sabha polls) easy,” a Trinamul leader said. “So, we will carry on with our attempts to garner the requisite numbers needed to win the fourth Rajya Sabha seat.”Morcha sources hinted that the issue of elections to the GTA would also be discussed when Gurung met Mamata.
“Our boycott of the Rajya Sabha polls and the elections to the GTA are interlinked. The main reason for the boycott is the state’s insistence on holding elections to the GTA before the issue of territory is sorted out. So we can’t talk of one and ignore the other,” a Morcha leader said.
The Morcha wants Gorkha-dominated areas in the Dooars-Terai region included in the hill set-up.(Telegraph)
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