Last-minute give & take

Darjeeling, July 15: Last-mile negotiations appear to have ironed out “a few” outstanding points in the Darjeeling deal.

Sources said although the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was keen that the elected House of the territorial administration be called “Assembly”, the Centre as well as the state government persuaded the outfit to settle for “Sabha”.

Both the governments wanted to avoid creating an impression that the new autonomous body was being granted symbols of statehood such as an Assembly.

The Centre was also averse to the Morcha’s demand that the House be headed by a Speaker and a deputy Speaker. Instead, it has been decided that a chairman and a deputy chairman will conduct the business of the House.

The Morcha had already been handed a big selling point with the government agreeing to prefix the word “Gorkhaland” to the new body that will govern the region, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri, however, said the chairman would not head the GTA. “The chairman...is only to conduct the proceedings of the House,” he added.

The Morcha leader declined to reveal the name envisaged for the head of the new body. The hills are rife with speculation that the head would probably be given the status of “a cabinet minister” of the state.

With the Morcha trying to make the new body sound more like a “state” than an autonomous body, the Centre had raised objections to use of the word “Assembly” in the draft.

Samar Ghosh, Bengal chief secretary, had yesterday said even though Delhi was eager to sign the agreement, there were a few points that needed to be sorted out.

In less than 24 hours after the chief secretary’s statement, the Morcha today announced that all the differences had been ironed out. “Everything has been sorted out and we are happy with all the provisions,” Giri said. The Centre and Bengal seems to have deftly handled the issue, which was well reciprocated by the Morcha.

“The body will be called the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration,” Giri said, hinting that the Morcha had scored some brownie points.

Reacting to remarks about the nomenclature of the GTA, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said today: “Again, I ask, what’s in a name? Some people say shuprabhat while others say good morning. Some people are playing a narrow political game over this minor issue.”

~TT