GJM to attend all party meet on Aug 29, raise Gorkhaland demand

Darjeeling: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha would attend the August 29 all party meeting convened by the West Bengal government on the Darjeeling issue, and raise the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland during the parleys, a senior party leader said on Friday.

"We will attend the meeting and raise the demand for Gorkhaland there," GJM Vice President Kalyan Dewan told IANS after the party`s emergency central committee session here.

The GJM central committee held its session a short while after the Gorkhaland Movement Co-ordination Committee met during the day and decided to attend the all party meeting provided the state government gave it a fresh letter of invitation for the talks.

The GMCC is a platform formed by the pro-Gorkhaland parties to decide the course of the ongoing movement for the separate state.

"Some parties in the GMCC have got invitation letter from the state government for the meeting, and some have not. So we need another letter from the state government inviting the GMCC," said GJM Joint Secretary Binay Tamang.

The GMCC would hold another meeting on August 27 to take the final call on attending the meeting after going through the state government letter.

The GMCC also decided to continue the ongoing indefinite shutdown in the north Bengal hills. A decision about whether to continue with the shutdown would be taken depending the outcome of the August 29 meeting, a GJM source said.

Normal life has been paralysed in the hills covering large areas in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts following the indefinite shutdown called by the GJM since June 12 on the statehood demand.

The GMCC formed later to broadbase the movement by roping in other parties, have also backed the stir which has greatly impacted the hills` three economic mainstays - tea, timber and tourism.

Banerjee on Tuesday announced that the state government would hold talks with "all major political parties" on August 29.