Kurseong, Feb. 20: The Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha leadership today said it had “no fight” with the Bengal
government and would take the statehood demand to the Centre, taking cue
from the creation of Telangana.
The decision to speak to central
ministers and parties in Delhi was taken at a Morcha central committee
meeting today, held to decide the Darjeeling hill party’s plan in the
light of the passage of the Telangana bill in Parliament.
In the evening,
when the Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri made the announcement, the
bill had not been passed in the Rajya Sabha.
The hill party
said it would continue to run the GTA Sabha. Late at night, the party
rescheduled its four rallies in the hills from Friday to Sunday.
Tomorrow, a dharna would be held in Delhi.
Giri said: “The
meeting was held to discuss the party’s role in the Telangana context.
It is clear that the Centre can create a state without the state’s
consent as the Andhra Pradesh Assembly had not cleared the statehood
bill. It is up to the Centre to create states and the state has no role.
We will, therefore, go to Delhi with our demand. We have no fight with
the state.”
A source in the
hills said: “The party has perhaps realised that it cannot afford to
take on the state government now. After Gurung’s resignation from the
post of chief executive of the GTA, other political parties started
raising their pitch in the hills.”
That the Morcha
leadership would take such a stand on statehood was apparent from party
chief Bimal Gurung’s Facebook post on February 18, the day the Lok Sabha
passed the Telangana bill.
Gurung wrote:
“Today’s passage of the Telangana bill makes it clear that state consent
is not necessary for its bifurcation, a fact which we have been
reiterating for a long time. Those opposing creation of smaller states
have wrongly argued that such consent from state assembly is required
before rearranging its boundary.”
Giri today said:
“We will send the delegation as early as possible (to Delhi). We will
meet all political parties, including the Congress, BJP, and even other
regional parties like the BSP and the SP to seek support for our
demand.”
Asked about the functioning of the GTA, Giri said: “The GTA will be running.”
The day the
Congress had taken the decision on Telangana on July 30 last year, party
president, Bimal Gurung had immediately resigned from the post of chief
executive to spearhead the statehood agitation.
After the state
government took strong administrative steps to curb the agitation and
following a patch-up between the hill party and Mamata Banerjee, Gurung
resumed office on December 26, 2013.
Gurung has decided to concentrate on development work.
After laying the
foundation stone of a bridge, electrification project and tourist resort
at Rimbick constituency yesterday, Gurung today laid the foundation
stone of a multi-speciality hospital in Kurseong.
Sources said tomorrow Gurung will be going to Takdah-Teesta Valley area to lay the foundation stone of a drinking water project.
The Telegraph