Three days after an MLA quit the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, another legislator Trilok Dewan on Monday resigned from the party describing its top leadership as “autocratic” even as he and one other GJM MLA resigned from the Assembly.
Dewan resigned from his seat in the West Bengal Assembly as well as from the party while another GJM’s Rohit Sharma resigned from the Assembly, giving a huge jolt to the organisation which for long spearheaded a movement for the creation of a separate state in the Darjeeling hills.
The GJM had earlier announced that its three MLAs would resign from the Assembly to protest against the alleged non-cooperation of the state government with the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).
But Harka Bahadur <g data-gr-id="15">Chetri</g>, GJM legislator from Kalimpong, refused to toe the party line and announced on September 18 that he was quitting the GJM but would not resign from the Assembly and function as an independent MLA.
Speculation was rife that Chetri, who met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her recent tour in the hills, might join the Trinamool <g data-gr-id="18">Congress,</g> although Chetri denied the reports.
Echoing Chetri, Dewan, an MLA from Darjeeling, told reporters in the Assembly premises that he resigned from the party due to the “autocratic nature of the GJM’s top leadership”.
Left, Cong MLAs stage <g data-gr-id="37">walk-out</g> from Bengal assembly
Both the Opposition Left Front and Congress on Monday staged a walk out from the West Bengal assembly on different issues. After the end of the question hour, CPI(M) member and Leader of the Opposition <g data-gr-id="45">Surjya</g> Kant Mishra demanded the membership of Ranigunj Trinamool Congress MLA Sohrab Ali from the assembly be disqualified as he was convicted by <g data-gr-id="43">a Asansol</g> court on charges of stealing railway iron scrap. Mishra, citing the instance of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha who was also disqualified as an MLA after being convicted by a Karnataka court in disproportionate assets case, said that the Speaker should also follow suit and disqualify Ali's membership.