Didi blames Centre for dragging feet on Gorkhaland

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday blamed the Manmohan Singh government for the delay in implementing the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) agreement. Pramod Giri reports.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday blamed the Manmohan Singh government for the delay in implementing the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) agreement.

HT Image

On July 18, 2011, the Centre, the West Bengal government and the Gorklhaland Janamukti Morcha (GJM) had signed a historic memorandum of agreement that aimed to give unprecedented autonomy to the Gorkhas to quell a three-decade-long unrest in the hills of Darjeeling to carve out a separate state of Gorkhaland.

On Saturday, when GJM leaders met the CM to air their grievances over the delay in implementing the agreement, she said: “The Centre is delaying the implementation. The state government has done everything very fast in the regard. I will visit New Delhi on February 23-24 and visit the hills again on February 28.”

Mamata’s comments came against the backdrop of a rising number of instances of bickering between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress, allies both at the Centre and the state. She, however, did not comment on the GJM’s politically sensitive demand of including Dooars and Terai in the GTA.