A Congress rally in Siliguri on Tuesday, calling for peace in the hills and the plains. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Cooch Behar, May 6: The Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party finds itself in an uncomfortable situation following Bimal Gurung’s recent public speech in Dinhata exhorting all its panchayat candidates to resign if they win the seats.

The Democratic Party has formed an electoral alliance with the Kamtapur Progressive Party and the Jamait-e-Ulema-e-Hind to fight the CPM in the three-tier panchayat polls in Cooch Behar district.

However, on Sunday, Gurung, the president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, told a gathering at Dinhata that the Democratic Party should demand a separate state of Greater Cooch Behar without taking part in electoral politics. The Morcha, which is spearheading the movement for Gorkhaland, and the Democratic Party are supporting each other’s statehood movements.

Democratic Party president Asutosh Barma said the party was formed in 2006 by breaking away from the Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association solely to contest the polls. “Every party has its ideals and so do we. We want to achieve a separate state by taking part in parliamentary democracy.”

Another Democratic Party leader, on condition of anonymity, said Gurung was free to voice his views. “But we will not budge from our stand of contesting the panchayat polls,” he added.

Association leaders, however, supported Gurung. “He is right. We are the residents of a separate state and the Bengal government has no right to rule us,” said a leader, who did not want to be named either.

Insiders said the Democratic Party is contesting in 526 of the 1,668 gram panchayat seats, 128 of the 353 panchayat samiti seats and 25 of the 29 zilla parishad seats.