Darjeeling: Rebel Morcha leader and Gorkhaland Territorial
Administration chairman Binay Tamang will on Sunday visit Tukvar, the
turf of party chief Bimal Gurung, in his first trip there since the two
parted ways.
Sources told The Telegraph that in Tukvar - earlier
known as the Morcha "lion's den" because of Gurung - Tamang will visit
some tea estates to oversee the GTA's development works.
Tukvar, a few kilometres from Darjeeling town, had been on the focus
of the police and the administration during the over 100-day-long
statehood agitation last year spearheaded by Gurung. "He (Tamang) will
interact with people and gauge the progress of projects," said a source.
Political analysts feel the trip is significant. "The visit is
symbolic and shows Tamang's confidence. It seems his plan is to
paralyse whatever is left of Gurung's set-up in the area," said an
analyst.
Tamang, who was elected to the GTA from another seat in
Darjeeling, had earlier been to Tukvar several times. "But since the
split, he has not gone to the area. Now that he has planned the visit,
it shows he wants to send a message across the hills that even Tukvar is
under his control," said an observer.
Over the past two decades, Tukvar had been Gurung's lair where
he had won as an Independent councillor in 1999. Later, he joined the
Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF).
"GNLF was the most powerful party then. But Bimal Gurung
managed to win the seat. This showed his support base. If Binay Tamang
walks into the area and manages to win the confidence of party workers
and supporters who have always been close to Gurung, it would be yet
another setback to the Morcha president," said another observer of hill
politics.
The Telegraph
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