GJM leader held for attack on TMC man

THE Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) on Friday called an indefinite strike in the Hills from May 26 to protest the arrest of a GJM leader in Garubathan area of Darjeeling late on Thursday night.

Police arrested Chandra Yonjon,an elected member of Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA),for allegedly instigating violence in the area as he led a mob that set fire to the house of a local Trinamool Congress leader,K N Subba.

Yonjon is innocent. We are in no way involved with the incident that took place in Garubathan, said GJM general secretary Roshan Giri. While police said that Yonjon led a group of Gorkhaland Personnel a GJM-backed youth volunteer force with rods and swords,the GJM blamed the incident on the factional clash within the Trinamool.

This was a factional clash of the Trinamool. One group of the party does not want the relations between the GJM and the Trinamool government to improve. So they conspired against us. We will not withdraw the strike until our leader is released, Giri added.

Since Friday morning,the GJM MLAs and members of GTA protested in front of Darjeeling police station demanding release of Yonjon. The GTA member was produced before a local court,which rejected his bail plea.

Significantly,the relations between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and GJM chief Bimal Gurung,which had soured in January,had started to improve in recent days.

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