Senior GNLF leader Deepak Gurung offers puja to the Buddha at Chowrastha. Picture by Suman Tamang

Siliguri, May 23: On the face of it, being invited to be the guest-in-chief at a cricket match in Kalimpong would have been nothing unusual for Darjeeling MP Dawa Narbula.

But the fact that the invitation came from a club whose office-bearers are senior GNLF functionaries has given observers reason to believe that the party is trying to ?woo? Narbula into its fold.

The reason, observers said, was because the parliamentarian, who had the GNLF?s backing during the Lok Sabha polls, had wanted to ?come out of Ghisingh?s shadow?.

Although it was not a much publicised appearance by the MP, local political circles are viewing the invitation as an effort by the GNLF ?to keep Narbula in good humour?, much to the discomfiture of the hill party which, the MP has ?accused? of riding roughshod over the Congress.

Of late, the Left and the PDF have persistently accused the MP of being a ?puppet in the hands of the GNLF?. Not only that, the Congress MP had even communicated his ?intentions? to party chief and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and senior leader Ambika Soni that toeing the 'GNLF line' was not exactly to his liking. In the past few months, he has hardly ever seen sharing public forums with GNLF leaders.

?The organising club of yesterday?s match was headed by a senior GNLF functionary who was once the vice-chairman of the Kalimpong municipality. This is proof that the invitation was a decision orchestrated by the GNLF bosses,? said a Congress leader.

Dawa Pakhrin, a GNLF leader and the Kalimpong branch committee president of the party, however, refused comment on whether the show was buttressed by the GNLF.

?All I can say is that the Darjeeling MP was invited to be the chief guest at the event,? he told The Telegraph.

Darjeeling Congress general secretary Amit Dey considered the ?move? evidence that the GNLF was becoming aware of the creases developing in the relationship between the MP and the GNLF top brass?.

Observers said the fear of losing out on political mileage in the run-up to the hill council election had spurred the GNLF to try and keep Narbula in ?good humour?.

Though the Congress has not openly committed its support to the GNLF in the DGHC elections, it is not ?averse to part ways with Ghisingh?.

Narbula?s only reaction to the cricket diplomacy was: ?I was offered an invitation and I obliged those who called me.