Justifying the expulsion of Jaswant Singh, the BJP MP from Darjeeling, the West Bengal party unit said that on the Gorkhaland issue too, he had gone beyond the central leadership’s mandate. “His blatant commitment to the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland to be carved out of West Bengal embarrassed us,” said a number of leaders.

In Darjeeling, the news was greeted with a stoic silence by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), which had pulled out a big surprise when it announced Jaswant as its Lok Sabha candidate. The GJM’s support ensured that he won the seat, notching up one of the biggest electoral victories in Darjeeling.

Today, most of the GJM leaders avoided commenting on the issue. Amar Lama, one of the few senior GJM leaders who could be contacted, said: “It’s an internal matter of the BJP. We are not concerned. It would not be a setback for the separate Gorkhaland statehood movement.”

Asked if the GJM would like to continue to support Jaswant or prefer a tie-up with the BJP, Lama said: “The choice is with the BJP and Jaswant. It’s not ours. Jaswant would continue to be a popular figure in the hills.”

Dawa Sherpa, BJP convenor for Darjeeling district, said, “Legally, Jaswant’s status in Parliament would be that of “an unattached MP”.

Tathagata Roy, former president of the West Bengal BJP, said: “Our party manifesto had a very balanced stand on the Gorkhaland issue. But Jaswant surpassed the balance for which he had no mandate from the party.” Roy added, “ The party wanted to consider the demands of the Gorkhas and sort it out through dialogue. The Gorkhas never talked about cessation from India,” said Roy. But Jaswant, he said, conceded the demand for a separate state even before a dialogue.