The Trinamul Congress and the GNLF want the coming civic polls in the
hills to be fought on local issues but the very next day of the
election notification, it is clear that the main plank of the campaign
will be the statehood demand.
The alliance forged by Trinamul and the GNLF has accused the Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha of playing with the sentiments of the hill people by
raking up the statehood issue before every election.
The Jana Andolan Party, which is fighting the municipality elections
alone, too, had made a similar allegation against the Morcha.
However, today, it was not the Morcha which raised the statehood issue.
The Gorkha Jan Kalyan Party, a one-year-old party, today said it
would appeal to voters to press the None of the Above (Nota) button in
the forthcoming elections.
Krishna Chhetri, the president of the party, today said: "We don't
want to stay in Bengal and will not accept any administrative framework
within Bengal. We, therefore, appeal to all our supporters to press the
Nota button which is an option provided by the election commission. We
would like to make it clear that we are not boycotting the elections."
The GJKP leader has said the party will make a similar appeal to
voters in all other elections as long as the hills are in Bengal.
"Our demand is for a separate Gorkha Pradesh. We have changed the
name of the state that we seek as we believe Gorkhaland does not send
the right message to people in power at the Centre. Until we achieve
Gorkha Pradesh, we will continue to urge our supporters to press the
Nota button in all elections, be it to panchayats, GTA, Assembly or any
other," said Chhetri.
Asked if the decision would ultimately rob the proponents of
Gorkhaland of the opportunity to show their mandate by winning the
elections, Chhetri said: "Even the Nota can be a reflection of the
mandate for a separate state."(TT)
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