Mamata ready 'to die but won't allow division' of Bengal

A day after BJP promised to sympathetically consider the pending demands of Gorkhas, including Gorkhaland, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today reiterated that she would not allow division of the state and was prepared to die for it.

"You saw how Congress and BJP joined hands and bifurcated (Andhra Pradesh) creating Telangana. Now they are saying divide Bengal. It is not that easy. I am prepared to die, but won't allow division," Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress chief, told an election rally here in Burdwan district.

Stressing on unity among the people in the plains and the hills, the Chief Minister called for sustaining peace in Darjeeling which has returned to normalcy after bandhs crippled life in the recent past over the demand for a separate Gorkhaland.

"Darjeeling is now smiling. Peace has been restored and this is not being liked," she said while accusing the Congress, BJP and the CPI(M) of joining hands against her government and the party over different issues.

BJP's S S Ahluwalia is contesting from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat with the support of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha.

BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said in Delhi yesterday that the BJP would seriously consider the Gorkhaland as well as other demands.

BJP had added in its manifesto issues pertaining to Gorkhas, Bodos, Adivasis and other people of Darjeeling.