Darjeeling April 9: A sense of a political alliance between the Congress and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) went seemingly a step further with the later deciding to withdraw its April 9 deadline to start afresh the Gorkhaland stir in the hills after union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh urged the hill party to carry on development via the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) for another 10 years.
The Morcha had earlier threatened to start a ‘Militant stir’ for Gorkhaland after April 9 in a recent spat with the Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee who had openly spoke against Gorkhaland at a government programme in Darjeeling. The Morcha however has demanded speedy transfer of the departments to the GTA which the state government has failed to do so ever since the inception of the GTA.
The Morcha today held a meeting with the Minister and termed it to be fruitful. “The meeting with the minister was fruitful. He has promised to take up the matter of speedy transfer of the departments with the union home minister. He has claimed that the agreement of GTA will be strictly followed,” said Roshan Giri, the GJM General Secretary. The party has also urged the minister removal of the para-military forces from the hills.
In the meeting held today GJM chief whip Bimal Gurung has reportedly told Ramesh that the Trinamool Congress has been utilizing the para-military forces in the hills to make their party base in the hills. “The deployment of the force has hampered peace in the hills and the force should be immediately withdrawn,” Gurung told the Minister.
The party however will continue the torch rallies across the hills while it has not announced any deadline whatsoever this time keeping in mind the minister’s assurance.
The GJM’s call for withdraw of agitation comes in at a time when Trinamool Congress has started to make inroads in the hills and the GNLF managing to make a scant comeback in the hills. The party’s move as reported yesterday in this newspaper that a Congress-GJM alliance is on the cards in the hills keeping in mind the lok sabha polls next year coincides with what political analysts believe.
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