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M Chhaya in Kolkata
The Gorkha National Liberation Front has split and the dissidents have applied to the Election Commission to be recognised as a separate party.
The dissidents at Kalimpong, a subdivision town of Darjeeling district have named the new outfit as the GNLF (C).
GNLF legislator from Darjeeling D K Pradhan and former GNLF legislator from Kalimpong N Moktan have engineered the split after falling out with GNLF supremo Subash Ghising.
Political observers say the GNLF split because the dissidents led by Pradhan believed Ghising was behind the murder of GNLF leader C K Pradhan in October. D K Pradhan is the elder brother of the deceased GNLF leader.
The dissidents claim that they had been forced to float the new group because Ghising had compromised on the question of a separate Gorkha state carved out of the hilly northern region of of West Bengal.
The Gorkhaland agitation of the 1980s saw the GNLF run amok and take recourse to violent agitations, which came to an end after the formation of the autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, which was allowed to run the affairs of the hill district of Darjeeling.
D K Pradhan accused Ghising of softening on the question of Gorkhaland after tasting political power as the DGHC chief.
GNLF leaders sought to undermine the development saying GNLF (C) will not have any effect on the Gorkha people.
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