Barla Parishad’s poll target

Siliguri, Aug. 21: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad today vowed to go all out to defeat the alliance of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the tribal group led by John Barla in the panchayat polls.

The state leadership of the tribal outfit also gave its carte blanche to the Dooars-Terai unit to forge a tie-up with any party in the elections.

Birsa Tirkey, the state president of the Parishad, said his organisation was not attaching much importance to the decision of the Morcha and Barla to contest the polls jointly in the Dooars and Terai.

“But we would like to clarify that we won’t leave any space for the Morcha and Barla in the elections and will go all out against them in the campaign. The Parishad will ask the people in the Dooars and Terai to distance themselves from such an unholy nexus, whose divisive activities have hindered the progress of the plains,” Tirkey told The Telegraph over the phone from Calcutta.