By IANS
Kolkata : Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chief Subhas Ghising would step down in 10 days’ time as the caretaker administrator of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said Friday.
“Ghising would resign in 10 days’ time,” Bhattacharjee said in a statement.
Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) President Bimal Gurung, who is spearheading a movement against Ghising, said the latter is like a black cat that has crossed the way of hill people’s aspiration in Darjeeling.
“We have been able to throw out that black cat,” Gurung said here.
The GJM has crippled life in the three sub-divisions of Darjeeling district in north Bengal since Feb 20 along with an economic blockade since Feb 17, demanding a separate statehood and immediate sacking of Ghising as DGHC caretaker administrator.
Gurung said his outfit would take a decision on withdrawing the blockade shortly.
Ghising earlier met Bhattacharjee Thursday at the Writers’ Buildings and discussed the political situation in the hills.
Ghising’s rival GJM is opposed to the constitution’s Sixth Schedule status for Darjeeling – which envisages greater autonomy – and instead demands a separate state.
The GNLF leader was forced to knock on the chief minister’s door after hundreds of GJM supporters confined him at Pintail village, a resort three km from Siliguri, for five days since his return from New Delhi Feb 18. He had held talks with the central government over inclusion of Darjeeling in the Sixth Schedule.