Desertion from GNLF even as Ghisingh hopes to return to Darjeeling

Kurseong : Gorkha National Liberation Front founder and president Subash Ghisingh may be hoping to return to his home in Darjeeling once the winter is over, but his party GNLF seems to be nowhere on the path to recovery. According to reports, over 100 families belonging to the GNLF from Dabaipani village in Takdah-Glernburn Gorkhaland Territorial Administration constituency on Sunday joined the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the presence of GTA chief Bimal Gurung. In an effort to woo the GNLF supporters in the area, Gurung told them that efforts were on to adopt their remote area as the first model village in the hills under the Prime Minister's Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. The 110 families under the leadership of the GNLF village protection committee chief, Sarad Rai, said they had earlier supported the Morcha but drifted to the GNLF due to “unlikely” behaviour of the Morcha leaders. “We have now realised that we were victims of neglect by the local Morcha leadership, and not the central leadership. We have full faith in the Morcha president," said Rai. Gurung welcomed the new entrants at the party headquarters in Darjeeling. "Dabaipani will be turned into a model village, for which the paper works are underway. Once it is adopted, the entire village will be developed," he said. Dabaipani is around 30km from Darjeeling.

 Darjeeling MP, SS Ahluwalia, has already claimed Dabaipani to be a prospective model village in the hills. On the other hand, Ghisingh is reported to be planning to return to Siliguri either in the last week of February or the first week of March. The former Darjeeling strongman who spearheaded the agitation for separate state Gorkhaland in the Hills is in Haryana for over two weeks, taking complete rest and still fighting age-related ailments. According to GNLF sources, Ghisingh was taken to Haryana from Delhi for a treatment. They also informed that the GNLF supremo will remain in the rented house in the state for another 15 days, as he is still recuperating.” The sources further revealed that Ghisingh would first arrive in Siliguri where the climate was warmer than the hills, and that his aides were looking for a place on rent around Uttarayan township area near Darjeeling More. “He is likely to stay in Siliguri until the winter season gets over and then move to his hometown Darjeeling,” said the source. “His health is much better now, and he is able to interact with the followers who visit him to enquire about his health,” he said. “He could go to Delhi again in between as he has appointments with his doctors there”, he lastly added.