By IANS,
Darjeeling : The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) Wednesday demanded that the Congress MP from Darjeeling Dawa Norbula should make Gorkhaland a pre-condition for voting in favour of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government during the confidence motion slated for July 22.
“We want him to support the ruling UPA only if it decides to support Gorkhaland. If the UPA does not do so, then Norbula should vote against the government,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told IANS.
Giri said GJM president Bimal Gurung conveyed his party’s stand to Norbula at a meeting Wedensday.
The GJM, leading the movement for a separate state in the Darjeeling Hills, has been blockading government offices in the area since July 5. Earlier, the party organised an indefinite shutdown in the hills twice over its demand for a separate state.
Norbula was elected on a Congress ticket in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections with support from the Subhas Ghising-led Gorkha National Liberation Front(GNLF).
But with the GJM coming to the forefront of the Gorkhaland movement, the rank and file of the GNLF deserted Ghising and joined the GJM.
The Congress-led UPA government faces a crucial floor test in the Lok Sabha July 22 to prove its majority in the wake of the withdrawal of support to it by its erstwhile Communist allies over the India-US nuclear deal.