Not Gorkhaland right now, focus is on development: GJM

Ahead of next week's meetings, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) today said it would focus on the development agenda and seek amendments to the GTA Act for proper functioning of the autonomous hill body during the talks and that Gorkhaland was not on their agenda "right now".
"Right now it is not on our agenda. We will discuss how to make the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) more powerful and place our demand for bringing amendments to make the GTA powerful and effective," GJM leader Harkabahadur Chetri told PTI today when asked whether the Gorkhaland issue would be on the table during talks to be held here.

The meeting between the Morcha and the West Bengal government would be held on November 20, and the tripartite talks involving the party, the state and the Centre are scheduled for the next day.
A top official of the state home department confirmed that the main agenda of the bipartite and tripartite meetings would be GTA's functioning and development projects in the Darjeeling Hills.
"We will discuss on GTA," GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI from Kalimpong.
The home department official told PTI, the bipartite meeting would be attended by the state Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra, state home secretary Basudeb Banerjee and GJM leaders.

He said the tripartite meeting would be attended by additional secretary of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs K Skandan, besides Banerjee and the GJM leaders.