Ahead of Gorkhaland polls, two hill leaders join Trinamool Congress

Two political leaders from North Bengal joined the All India Trinamool Congress on Friday, ahead of elections to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), a semi-autonomous development body that administers Darjeeling.

Binoy Tamang, former chairman of GTA, and Rohit Sharma, a former MLA from Kurseong, decided to switch sides. Tamang, who left the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) on July 15, had earlier toyed with the idea of floating a new political outfit. In 2019, Tamang had stepped down as GTA chairman to contest the assembly by-election from Darjeeling but lost to the BJP's candidate. After Tamang resigned, the state government had made Anit Thapa - general secretary of GJM faction led by Tamang - chairman of GTA.

But before Assembly polls earlier this year, Thapa was removed, and the autonomous body is now being run by a senior bureaucrat.


Tamang and Thapa took charge of GJM after the then party chief Bimal Gurung left the state following the Trinamool government's crackdown on the Gorkhaland movement in 2017. He continued to claim that his faction represented the original party.

Gurung resurfaced in the state in 2020 and offered to support Banerjee in the assembly polls. Meanwhile, Thapa floated his own party, Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, in September.

Elections to the 45-member GTA are likely to be held early next year. The last election was in 2012.