NEW DELHI: Home Minister P Chidambaram and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee have fully backed the newly elected West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s initatives to start talks with leaders of Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) to resolve the issue of separate ‘statehood’ in Darjeeling. The two leaders conveyed their support when the senior leaders of GJMM met them in Delhi on Thursday. The two ministers suggested that the central government will go with the state government on the issue. It also directed to first hold bilateral talks with the state government to built consensus on maximum number of their demands.
The first round of talks between the GJMM leaders and state government representatives are scheduled to take place on June 6. The Home Ministry officials will later participate in a tripartite talks between state government and GJMM to give final shape to the agreement, in case, it is worked out. According to sources, the Central leaders told GJMM’s leaders that it is up to the Bengal Government to decide on the kind of ‘concessions’ they are willing to accept. One model is the Bodoland Autonomous Hill Council in Assam, which was formed after the Bodo agitation. In this model, the council have lot of autonomy.
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