Kalimpong, July 14: A Kalimpong leader of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha asked workers from outside the so-called Gorkhaland to leave the place immediately, but his party bosses distanced themselves from the move.

D.B. Pradhan had issued the order while addressing the party’s labour wing yesterday. The Kalimpong unit secretary of the Janmukti Mazdoor Morcha had apparently said that a process to identify “outsiders” was under way and they would be “requested” to leave at the earliest.

When The Telegraph today drew the attention of Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri to Pradhan’s statement, he was at a loss to explain the “misplaced zeal” of his party colleague. “The central committee does not endorse his statement,” Giri said.

This is not the first time Morcha leaders or supporters have put the party in a spot. During the indefinite strike, cab drivers in Darjeeling had angered party president Bimal Gurung by fleecing tourists forced to return home early by the shutdown.

In Kalimpong, party activists had refused to let tourists trying to escape the bandh get down from the hills.