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Bimal Gurung's GJM walks out of NDA, to support TMC in 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls

Last Updated 21 October 2020, 15:57 IST

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) supremo Bimal Gurung announced on Wednesday that his party was pulling out of the BJP-led NDA as the ruling party at the Centre had failed to provide a “permanent political solution” for the Darjeeling Hills.

Gurung, who had been on the run since 2017 following the Gorkhaland agitation, also said he wants to join forces with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the 2021 Assembly election and give the BJP a befitting reply.

Earlier in the day, he suddenly arrived at the Salt Lake on the eastern fringes of Kolkata.

“The Centre has not yet fulfilled any promises, commitment it made. But Mamata Banerjee fulfilled all her commitments made to every party and organisation. That’s why I am proudly announcing today that I want to leave the NDA and end our relationship with the BJP,” Gurung told journalists.

He also said his party would do everything to ensure good results in the Assembly seats in North Bengal so that Mamata Banerjee once again becomes the chief minister.

“She does what she says. So I want to request Mamata Banerjee to provide a permanent political situation for the Darjeeling Hills. Our main agenda is Gorkhaland,” he said.

Gurung also said he was yet to speak to the TMC leadership about the issue.

“There is no permanent enemy or friends in politics. We were with the BJP for our agenda. But since they did not work for the fulfillment for our agenda we are snapping ties with them,” he added.

Lashing out at the BJP, the GJM leader said his party had been with the NDA since 2009. But the BJP-led government at the Centre had neither kept its promise of proving a permanent solution for the Darjeeling Hills nor did it include 11 Gorkha communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes.

He also said he was in Delhi and for the past two months he was in Jharkhand. He had been charged with more than 100 cases in relation to the agitation for the separate state of Gorkhaland.

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(Published 21 October 2020, 14:29 IST)

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