GJM team meets President with Gorkhaland demand

A Gorkha Janmukti Morcha delegation today met President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi with the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state in Darjeeling hills, GJM sources said here.
Led by senior GJM leader Roshan Giri, the delegation urged Mukherjee to set up a committee to study the viability of forming a separate Gorkhaland state.
The President told the delegation that he would take up the issue with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, the sources said.
GJM chief Bimal Gurung recently said the party would take the agitation for Gorkhaland state to Delhi as the passage of the Telangana bill had set a precedent that the state government's permission was not required for the creation of a new state.

The GJM delegation which included Central Committee member Ram Bhujel, Norden Lama, Vinod Prakash Sharma and Swaraj Thapa also took up the issue of setting up of central university in Gorkha Territorial Administration area, the sources said.