Uphill task The results of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council elections should have been enough to reassure Subhas Ghising, the chief of the Gorkha National Liberation Front, that his rule in the hills of West Bengal is not even remotely threatened at the moment. This is the third time running that the GNLF has secured this kind of supremacy in the hill council, and this time the opposition to Ghising had seemed tougher. The GNLF captured 23 of the 28 seats in the council in spite of the aggressive pre-election campaign by the eight party United Front. The front, as well as the Communist Party of India (Marxist), must now rethink their strategies to give discontent under GNLF rule an electorally effective edge. The eight party front seemed to have had Ghising rattled for a while, if his rantings about an imminent Supreme Court ruling and the consequent secession of Darjeeling were anything to go by. Ghising has always believed in kicking up a lot of dust whenever he was uncertain about the position of the GNLF. The poll results will have quietened him. He is rather too quiet, reportedly having evaded comment even on the formation of Gorkhaland. It now remains to be seen how far Ghising will go this time in publicising the differences of the hill council with the West Bengal government when asked about the lack of development in the Darjeeling region. The DGHC has not been given autonomy in all the administrative and financial areas it had asked for. This is the fate of most of the regional autonomous councils, the chief function of which is often to keep aggressive statehood movements at bay with promises of a splendid future and a taste of partial self-determination. The CPI(M) in West Bengal ? initially humiliated and enraged by the Gorkhaland movement ? and the GNLF have managed to come to a working agreement over the hill council. The best thing to come out of this strange meeting of opposed interests is that the killings in the hills have stopped. But the hill council under the GNLF has not crossed any remarkable milestone from the point of view of the region?s development. Inadequate money from the state coffers does not mean no money. Especially since charges of corruption have been repeatedly levelled at leading members of the GNLF. Surely Ghising will find it a little more difficult to point accusing fingers at the Left Front state government after this victory. One, he has no rival to fight. Two, he is powerful enough to bargain with the state government for funds and can also afford to be friendlier with them. Three, in his position he must be seen to be weeding out corruption. Four, if he ignores development, especially in the areas of drinking water, electricity, small industries and employment, he may find the eight party front growing into more of a threat than he found it this time.