Morcha supporters burn Ghisingh’s effigy in Kalimpong. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

Feb. 24: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has invited all opposition parties in the hills for a meeting in Delhi on Tuesday.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has turned down the offer, though three of its leaders will be in the capital then.

“They will meet Opposition (BJP) leaders and seek an appointment with the Prime Minister,” said its publicity secretary.

He added that the party, which met state officials in Calcutta last week, was interested in talks only if they were held in Darjeeling.

The chief minister’s invitation was conveyed to the hill parties by Darjeeling district magistrate Rajesh Pandey.

“The Darjeeling situation is worrisome. I appeal to those parties who are continuing the movement and hunger strike to withdraw them. I also invite them for a discussion after they end the fast,” Bhattacharjee said in Calcutta before leaving for the CPM politburo meeting in Delhi.

CPM sources said if not in Delhi, the chief minister would like to meet the Morcha brass on his return to Calcutta.

A meeting convened by the BJP in Darjeeling yesterday decided that representatives of six parties, except those of the Morcha, would meet Bhattacharjee in Delhi.

G.S. Yonzone, the hill president of the BJP, said the team would demand scrapping of the Sixth Schedule status bill. The GNLF and the CPM did not attend the meeting.

The delegation will also protest against urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya’s remark that the “protesters were trying to create problems among two different communities” and their movement amounted to “rowdism”.

Yonzone said: “The chief minister has to make him apologise or force him to resign.”

In an article that appeared in party mouthpiece Ganashakti on Friday, Bhattacharya, however, accused Subash Ghisingh of running the DGHC like his fief. “But the Morcha demand for separate statehood is unacceptable,” he added.

The Morcha is against the Sixth Schedule status and wants Gorkhaland instead. The party has been demanding the immediate removal of Ghisingh as caretaker administrator of the hill council and has called an indefinite shutdown in the hills.

The Morcha has vowed not to allow Bhattacharya to enter the hills. Its supporters had prevented Ghisingh from heading home after his return from Delhi on February 18.

After five days at Pintail on the outskirts of Siliuri, Ghisingh came to Calcutta on Friday. He is now holed up at Gorkha Bhavan in Salt Lake.

The GNLF chief is expected to leave for Delhi tomorrow as the special status bill is likely to be discussed in the budget session of Parliament. The session is beginning tomorrow.