Dinhata/Calcutta, May 4: Bimal Gurung today lifted the “ban” that his party, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, had imposed on the Bengal urban development minister’s visit to the Darjeeling hills.

“Now that we have been allowed to hold a rally in Siliguri on May 7, Asok Bhattacharya is free to visit the hills, to hold meetings, dance, sing and do whatever he wants to,” said Gurung before joining leaders of the Kamtapur Progressive Party (KPP) and the Greater Cooch Behar People’s Party at a public meeting in Dinhata this afternoon.

Gurung, who was accompanied by Morcha general secretary, Roshan Giri, said he had not come to canvass for panchayat polls. “But if you do vote, do so for anyone other than CPM candidates.” At the same time, the Morcha leader urged the KPP and Greater Cooch Behar candidates to resign from their posts, if they win.

“I am not hungry for power. I am here to restore respect for our homeland. The movement for a separate state of Cooch Behar is a similar movement as ours and we are with you,” Gurung told a gathering of nearly 10,000 people.

He exhorted the people to stand by the movement for Gorkhaland. “We have both been hard done by the CPM. We in the hills and you in the plains have been suffering from neglect. It is no longer possible for us to remain with Bengal,” the Morcha president said.

KPP president Atul Roy said the movement for the two states would be intensified. “One is Gorkhaland and the other Greater Cooch Behar or Kamtapur, I am not bothered about the name,” Roy said.

In Calcutta, Union minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi alleged that the Bengal government has failed to take a “right decision at the right time” with regard to the situation in the hills. The Congress leader, however, made it clear that his party would back chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in whatever he did to tackle the situation in the hills.

In an interview to a news channel in Calcutta, the chief minister urged the people of Darjeeling to submit a memorandum stating their exact demands and expectations from the state and central governments. He urged the hill people to come forward for a dialogue and assured them that if needed, the discussion can be taken to the Centre.

“Why is there this sudden upsurge?” Bhattacharjee asked, urging people to bring about an amicable solution for a lasting peace in the region, in the absence of which there cannot be any development.