Fresh Gorkha talks: Centre to decide date, venue soon

As the February 5 deadline for the fifth round of tripartite talks among the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), the Centre and the state governments on the Gorkhaland issue nears, the Centre today said the date and venue will be announced once the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) � of which Mamata Banerjee is also a member � meets this week.

After the fourth round of talks that took place in Darjeeling on December 21 last year, the Centre had said it would announce the next date within 45 days and the GJM would be informed accordingly. "The matter will be placed before the CCPA meeting that will take place this week and a decision taken. All concerned parties will be informed accordingly," Union Home Secretary G K Pillai told The Indian Express over phone from Delhi.

Banerjee, who is likely to attend the meeting, is said to be opposed to any division of West Bengal.

On the GJM's claim that the Centre had agreed to talks at a political level as demanded by it during the December 21 talks, Pillai said the whole issue would be decided at the CCPA meet.

The state government too said the whole matter would be decided by the Centre. "On earlier occasions too, it was the Central government which took the decision, which is binding on us," Subesh Das, Principal Secretary to the chief minister, said.

On the climbdown by the GJM leadership on the areas it wants for Gorkhaland, Das said the state government had not yet received any proposal from any quarter.

The Morcha reportedly sent a proposal to the Central government saying it wanted only those areas which were dominated by Gorkhas. Earlier, the Morcha said it wanted the entire Darjeeling district, the Dooars and Siliguri sub-division in the proposed state of Gorkhaland.

"We are not giving any allowance as such. We want only the areas dominated by Gorkhas and Adivasis," Morcha spokesman Roshan Giri said.

At the CPM state committee meet yesterday, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reiterated that his government was ready to give more autonomy to the Gorkha Hill Council but said he was opposed to any further division of West Bengal.

In the last round of tripartite talks, Morcha had rejected the offer for more autonomy saying it would not settle for anything less than Gorkhaland.

Pillai who led the Central government team had told them that a political consensus would have to be built in this regard and that respective governments would be consulted and the Morcha would be informed about the decision in 45 days.

Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay