Nikhil Roy: Chief on the run

Siliguri, March 14: A rift within the KPP was apparent today as former chief Atul Roy openly disapproved of his successor and also had the party’s Darjeeling district committee agreeing with him.

The Darjeeling unit, which went into a huddle today to discuss the latest development within the party, reposed full faith in the leadership of Atul Roy.

Opposing the KPP central committee’s choice of Nikhil Roy, Darjeeling unit president Mohan Lal Ganesh said: “Nikhil is a man wanted by the police and a fugitive. The KPP’s political future is uncertain in his hands. We have full faith in the ability of Atul Roy as the party chief.”

The former KPP chief, who has been in the fray since the days when the All Kamtapur Students’ Union and the Kamtapur Gana Parishad fought for the Kamtapuris, said the induction of the “militant turks” within the party’s control team could pose a “survival threat” to the seven-year-old outfit.

Candid about his disapproval of Nikhil Roy as the party chief, Roy said the move could spell disaster for a “democratic movement”.

“The KPP has never used unconstitutional methods to achieve its goal, not even during the days when the government had unleashed terror upon us. In the hands of so-called hard liners, the KPP as a political party could face political extinction. The choice of Nikhil as party chief signals the end of a democratic movement,” he told The Telegraph.

On Sunday, Nikhil was elected the party chief at a closed-door meet at Barnish in Maynaguri. While the party think tank argues that Nikhil is the man to do the job of reviving the party’s support base, there are many who are sceptical about his ability to perform as a captain on the run.

The pro-Nikhil camp, however, feels Roy’s leadership lacked the right push. Nikhil, they believe will once again get the Kamtapuri movement back on track. The election has left the KPP divided between the moderates and the hardliners.This has fired speculations that Roy might break off to form his own party, an idea not dismissed by the former president.

“If things get into my way I may move away from Nikhil’s leadership but I will not break away from the KPP,” he said.According to political analysts, the transfer of power to “hardliners” could change the direction of the Kamtapuri movement and spur the top brass to revive its “partisan bonding” with the KLO.