Trinamool Congress trying to break my party: Harka Bahadur Chhetri

Harka Bahadur Chhetri

Ahead of the municipal polls slotted to take place in Darjeeling on May 14, Jan Andolan Party (JAP) president Harka Bahadur Chhetri has accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) of “trying to break” his party up. JAP, formed in 2015, fought the 2016 Assembly elections in alliance with the Trinamool. The party didn’t do well and since then, cracks have been appearing in their relationship. Chhetri’s remarks came about while he addressed party workers at a meeting on Friday. “Trinamool ministers keep frequenting Kalimpong only to break the JAP. People must remain vigilant. The state never wants any regional party to become strong, and the JAP is getting strong. That is why the ministers keep frequenting Kalimpong to break the JAP,” Chhetri told his supporters at a programme organised to introduce the 23 candidates of the party who will contest civic polls in Kalimpong at Town Hall.

The JAP plans to contest all 83 seats from Darjeeling (32), Kurseong (20), Kalimpong (22) and Mirik (9). Speaking to The Sunday Express Chhetri said that an alliance with the TMC became impossible after the party’s local Hill leaders “started working against” his party. “Even during the assembly elections, the local TMC leaders worked against JAP. We came to know that TMC workers were campaigning against us and our party. On one hand you have a chief minister who is sympathetic to the hill people’s issues and understands hill politics – but her intentions do not percolate down to the local leaders. Several months ago, during the college elections in Kalimpong, our winning candidates were kidnapped by the TMC. They were told to join the Trinamool. What kind of an alliance is this? If the CPI(M) starts working against the RSP or Forward Bloc, why would these parties support them? Why should we ally with the TMC when they are trying to finish us,” said Chhetri. Trinamool minister-in charge of the municipal elections in Darjeeling has denied these allegations.

Over the past few months, the TMC has repeatedly reached out to JAP to fight the municipal elections in Kalimpong together. Recently, another regional party, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), announced an alliance with the TMC. During the assembly elections, Chhetri had said that the GJM was JAP’s main rival. He now says that the threat is very real from both the GJM and TMC. “The campaign they are running is based on threats to stop funds to Kalimpong. The TMC is running a campaign that if they don’t win then Kalimpong won’t get state funds. The GJM, meanwhile, is running a campaign that Kalimpong won’t get GTA funds if they don’t win. This is ludicrous. The government does not belong to a party or a person. It belongs to the people. If they do this we will take legal recourse and take our protests to the streets,” said Chhetri. GJM chief Bimal Gurung has been in Kalimpong for nearly two months now while Aroop Biswas has been visiting regularly, chairing various TMC meetings and events.