GJM to revive stir if Telangana demand is granted

DARJEELING: GorkhaJanmuktiMorcha (GJM) has threatened to revive its stir for a separate state in the Darjeeling hills if the Centre granted the demand for Telangana and bifurcated Andhra Pradesh.

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said here today the party will send a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde demanding that the Centre concede the demand for Gorkhaland along with Telangana.

"We think the Centre would take the final call on the matter tomorrow," he told reporters after a prolonged five-hour meeting of the GJM central committee called to discuss the Telangana issue vis-a-vis the statehood demand.

Asked what would happen to Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, that had replaced the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, in case the demand for Telangana is granted and GJM revives its statehood demand, Giri said "Time will decide everything. We are waiting for what the Centre will do tomorrow."

GJM sources said its president Bimal Gurung had discussed the matter with his colleagues in the central committee before the party came out with the decision of re-launching the statehood movement in case the Centre gives its nod to the creation of Telangana.