Morcha to decide on GTA poll tomorrow

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Friday, 29 June 2012 20:33

Written by Indian Express

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Bimal Gurung after meeting Mamata Banerjee at Writers’ Buildings on Thursday

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has not ruled out participating in the election to the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA). The party will take a final decision on Saturday.

GJM president Bimal Gurung met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today, but the talks appeared to be inconclusive. After the 90-minute meeting, Gurung said they were yet to decide whether his party would take part in the GTA election, which is scheduled on July 29.

Gurung termed the conversation between Mamata and the five-member GJM delegation including GJM MLA Rohit Sharma as “garma garmi hua” (heated arguments).

“Our anger is justified. There has been so much delay in determining our territory. Moreover, we are not satisfied with the Justice Shyamal Sen Committee report. We have informed the CM about out issues. She has directed us to submit all documents and our issues in writing to the committee that was formed to verify the facts presented in the Justice Sen Committee report. We have faith in the fact verification committee and we will submit all our documents to them.”

The GJM had demanded 398 mouzas in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts to be included in the proposed GTA. The state government had appointed the Shyamal Sen commission to consider the demand. But the Sen commission recommended inclusion of only five mouzas to the proposed GTA.

Regarding the GTA polls, Gurung said, “We have some serious issues which are more important than elections to us. Election is a routine thing. I represent the people of the hills and I have certain responsibilities towards them. But I can assure you that if we participate in elections, we will win all 45 seats. And we do not need an alliance with any party for that. Our core committee will meet on Saturday to decide on this,” said Gurung.

Chief secretary Samar Ghosh said, “There was no discussion on GTA election. We discussed the working procedure of the fact verification committee. Election will be held in due process.”

Gurung added, “Our five-member delegation held a meeting with Union home minister P Chidambaram in Delhi. We discussed Gorkha Land Personnel recruitment and requested him to recruit more Gorkhas in paramilitary forces, police and other government services.”

On the presidential election, Gurung confirmed that the GJM would back the decision of the West Bengal government. “We will support Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision regarding the presidential polls. Whatever she will decide, we will be with her,” Gurung said.