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Gorkha group for tripartite meet with Centre, WB govt
Published on Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 12:09, Updated on Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 16:50 in Nation section
Tags: Gorkhaland, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha , Kolkata
NEW STATE: GJM claims 13 parties, including Congress, Trinamool Congress and BJP, support Gorkhaland demand.
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Kolkata: The West Bengal government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) have agreed on tripartite talks involving the Centre on the contentious issue of a separate state of Gorkhaland.
But the GJM has ruled out withdrawing the indefinite strike that it began in Darjeeling on Monday.
It says such a decision would depend on the outcome of the tripartite talks.
"We will not call off the bandh. We are for a tripartite meeting and the question of withdrawing the bandh will depend on the course of discussions in a tripartite meeting," GJM President Bimal Gurung was quoted as saying by PTI in Darjeeling on Tuesday.
He said West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had earlier set precondition for talks with GJM saying discussion could be held keeping aside the separate statehood demand but now he said the government did not have any precondition for talks.
"It is late now. It would have been better if he had said so earlier," Gurung said.
The Centre and the West Bengal government have, however, made it clear that they favour talks without any preconditions.
Buddhadeb has made it clear that the state government favours a political solution to the problem.
Gurung had earlier turned down Buddhadeb's invitation for talks with him on June 18.
The GJM also claims 13 parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress and the BJP, had unanimously decided to support the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state.
The GJM-backed meeting in Darjeeling asked the Centre to create “a separate state of Gorkhaland comprising areas of Darjeeling and contiguous areas of Dooars.”
The BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI, All-India Gorkha League, Sikkim National Front, Indian Muslim League, GNLF-C (a breakaway group of the GNLF), CPRM (a breakaway group of the CPI-M) and Hill Congress attended the Darjeeling meeting, claimed GJM central committee member D K Pradhan.
The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) of Subhash Ghising and the CPI-M, which heads the West Bengal government, didn’t attend the meeting.
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Total Comments: 7
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As a corollary to the perception of Mr. Nikhil P. Ghag and his ilks, what if our vast country is
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50 years, that's all it will take for india to get divided into pieces.comeon get to the fact.we are the
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Gorkhas have contibuted so much to our country,and now it is high time that our country gives us Gorkhaland for
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Ok, corollary to the commentator's perception, what if we use India as a melting pot and make it a monolithic
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Why not? Few years earlier, they divided Jharkhand and Bihar, why not Gorkha land now?
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