Trinamul call for poll help

Darjeeling, July 18. Trinamul candidates contesting the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) elections have requested senior party leaders, including state and Union ministers, to campaign for them.

“All 17 candidates were called to Calcutta for a meeting chaired by the party’s general secretary and Union railway minister Mukul Roy last evening. During the meeting, we requested senior leaders to campaign for us in the GTA elections,” said Chewang Bhutia, a candidate from Pedong constituency in Kalimpong.

Roy, is said to have told the candidates that the party was keen at sending senior leaders to the Hills to campaign for the elections on July 29. “He, however, said since preparations for the martyr’s day celebration on July 21 was in full swing in Calcutta, the leaders could only come to the Hills after July 23,” Bhutia said.

The 17 candidates have not yet started the campaign but only concentrating on ground work among its sympathisers. “We are yet to hold any public meeting in the Hills but we will definitely hold the meetings soon,” Bhutia added.

The Darjeeling candidates said they were aware the senior ministers might not turn up for all the meetings. “We are planning to hold two major public meetings, one at Kalimpong and the other at Pedong. In these meetings, we are expecting senior leaders to be present,” the leader added.

The Hill Trinamul leaders are hopeful the party’s pointsman for north Bengal, Gautam Deb, would attend the other meetings.

Observers, however, believe Mamata Banerjee might not send his senior leaders to Darjeeling and could ultimately direct Deb to take care of the campaigns so that the party’s ties with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is not severed.

“It is unlikely Mamata will ask senior leaders to come up to campaign in the Hills. She is looking at maintaining a healthy relation with the Morcha so that peace and development can take place. The chief minister will not want to antagonise a party which has in any case got a majority in the GTA sabha,” an observer said.

The Morcha has already won 28 of the 45 GTA sabha seats uncontested.

Before Mamata’s visit to Darjeeling on July 13, Morcha president Bimal Gurung had said “he was hurt” Trinamul was trying to contest the elections and grab power when the chief minister had requested the Morcha to settle for the GTA.(TT)