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GNLF and Congress announces poll candidates
KalimNews: Names of GNLF poll candidates were announced today by GNLF supremo Subhas Ghising for the 3 hill seats. Prakash Dahal from Kalimpong  Bhim Subba from Darjeeling and Pemu Chhetri from Kurseong are the new faces of the party to contest the assembly election. Dilip Pradhan is the Congress candidate announced by the Congress party for Kalimpong Assembly constituency.

GNLF goes for ‘clean past’- Ghisingh greenhorns to tackle animosity

Subash Ghisingh: Goodwill priority

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, March 22: Subash Ghisingh has fielded greenhorns for the three hill seats — the choice of candidates revealing that the GNLF was keen on presenting fresh faces to build up a goodwill and renew its ties with the hill people in the absence of winning chances.

The only political face among the three GNLF candidates is Prakash Dahal, a former nominated councillor of the DGHC who has been fielded from Kalimpong.

Bhim Subba, a retired Naik of the 11 Gorkha Rifles and a former extension officer of the DGHC’s social education department in Sukhiapokhri, has been nominated for Darjeeling.

Pemu Chhetri, a 41-year-old housewife from Garidhura, has replaced sitting GNLF MLA Shanta Chhetri in Kurseong.

The GNLF is the first hill party to declare its candidates.

Among the three GNLF MLAs, Shanta Chhetri was the only one who did not resign from the party under pressure from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. But she was hounded out of the hills and her house set afire by, what the Morcha claimed, was the “public” of the hills.

In the face of such animosity towards his party, Ghisingh, it is suspected, did not risk fielding her. Rather he went for unknown or little-known people with “clean past”, aware that his party had slim chances at a time Morcha wielded the clout.

The Bimal Gurung-led outfit had recently held a meeting with nine political parties and initiated a process to choose consensus candidates for the hills. The GNLF and the CPM had not been invited to the meeting.

The GNLF chief said in his press statement that the three candidates would be given the “party tickets” on March 24. Ghisingh is also expected to visit the hills, after a gap of almost three years.

Subba, a resident of Tamsong, about 30km from Darjeeling, said he had only a “little inkling” of his candidature. “I had just heard that my name was doing the rounds. I, will continue to work for the uplift of the community,” he said over phone from his residence.

Subba is known to be a staunch Ghisingh loyalist and has also penned two books in Nepali: Gorkha jati ko sanchipt itihas (A Short History of the Gorkha Community, 1991) and Gorkha jati ko Bharatbarsa ma ek sanchipt parichay (A Short Identity of the Gorkhas in India 2011).

“I have been studying the history of the community for the past 23 years and I believe that Subash Ghisingh is the only one who can do well for the uplift of the community,” said Subba.

Pemu said she had got to know of her candidature early this morning. “I will sit for discussions with party workers and chart out our future course of action,” she said.

Pemu had recently been made the secretary of the Gorkha National Women’s Organisation (Kurseong subdivision).

Dahal could not be contacted as his cellphone was switched off.

The GNLF has said its election plank will be Sixth Schedule status for the hills. Ghisingh feels the special status is the most viable and acceptable solution to the hill problem at the moment.

Palden Bhutia, president of the GNLF Kurseong branch committee, said: “Since the names have been announced we will immediately kick off our election campaign. The campaign will gain momentum once the scrutiny of the papers is over (April 2).”

Shanta Chhetri said party supporters had accepted the “high command’s” decision and maintained that they would work hard to ensure the victory of the three candidates.

Deb goes for Gurung scalp after bail nod

TT, March 22: Housing minister Gautam Deb said police were “tightening their nets” to arrest Bimal Gurung after the Assembly polls on a day the Gorkha Janmkuti Morcha chief was granted anticipatory bail on three counts.

The Darjeeling sessions court today granted bail to Gurung for cases related to the blocking of NH31A, the burning of a vehicle belonging to the late ABGL leader Madan Tamang and the attack on his garage in Darjeeling.

All the three are non-bailable offences.

Dinesh Chandra Rai, the lawyer who moved the bail plea, said: “Since they were non-bailable sections, we applied for anticipatory bail, which had been granted by the court.”

Under the rules, those who procured anticipatory bails will have to surrender before the court in four weeks.

In Siliguri, Deb, a CPM state secretariat member, said: “He should be arrested as he has been named in a number of cases. The state government and police believe in timely action and are tightening the net through steps like lodging complaints against him and withdrawing his security. His arrest would be another action which we feel is likely to be done after the elections. It must be understood that the police need to consider an array of factors before implementing this decision.”

In a message to the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, he said: “They must understand that whatever the chief minister had told them while meeting them (in Malbazar), all commitments would be fulfilled.”

“They must learn from the Morcha and refrain from taking any step like allying with any political party. This would only reduce their status as puppets in the hands of political parties. They should maintain peace in the Dooars and have faith in the chief minister,” said the housing minister.