Binoy Tamang quits Trinamool hours after change of guard in Darjeeling Municipality

Kolkata, Dec 28 Just hours after Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM)-Trinamool Congress alliance took control of the Darjeeling Municipality in north West Bengal on Wednesday following a no-confidence motion against the previous board controlled by Ajay Edwards's Hamro Party, Trinamool's influential leader in the hills Binoy Tamang announced his decision to sever all ties with the party.

Announcing his decision to quit the Trinamool, Tamang told media persons that the manner in which the party and the BGPM took control over the Darjeeling Municipality by alluring six erstwhile Hamro Party councillors was against all democratic norms and an insult to the people of the hills.

"Democracy in the hills is at stake. The Chief Minister should intervene in restoring democracy here," Tamang told media persons.

In fact, Tamang on Tuesday only had made it clear that he would quit the Trinamool if party councillors in the Darjeeling Municipality took part in the no-confidence motion against the Hamro Party-controlled board.

On Wednesday, Tamang was also seen sharing the dais in a public rally with Edwards and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's Bimal Gurung, setting off speculation about a new political equation in the hills.

Tamang, a former chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), was initially a close confidant of Gurung in the GJM. However, at a later stage the two leaders fell apart and Tamang joined the Trinamool.