Mamata Banerjee has been silent on Bimal Gurung who has influence in some assembly seats in north Bengal.
A new chapter may open today in the decades-long turmoil over the demand for a separate state in the hills of Darjeeling. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will hold a meeting in Kolkata at 3 pm today with Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa, leaders of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha from Darjeeling.
Their rival and fugitive separatist leader Bimal Gurung resurfaced in Kolkata on October 21 and declared he was switching loyalty from the BJP to Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress to ensure that Mamata Banerjee wins the 2021 assembly election.
His return had sparked protests in Darjeeling by loyalists of Binoy Tamang, who is the president of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha that is already an ally of the Trinamool.
On Monday, Mr Tamang said his party will have nothing to do with Bimal Gurung who has over 120 criminal cases against him.
Mamata Banerjee has been silent on Bimal Gurung who has influence in some assembly seats in north Bengal.
The thorny issue is that aligning with Bimal Gurung means backing his demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland. That is impossible for Trinamool which has always said it will not allow another partition of Bengal.
The Trinamool had put out a cautious tweet on October 21 saying it welcomed Bimal Gurung's decision to break away from the he BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The GJM leader is a fugitive from law for the last three years. He disappeared from Darjeeling in October 2027 after months of violence that culminates in the death of a police officer Amitava Mallik.
Since he resurfaced last month, he has been cooling his heels in a Kolkata hotel. Though he has multiple criminal cases against him and a lookout notice, there has been no move by police to arrest him.