Darjeeling, May 5: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today responded to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s invitation for talks saying the party would attend the meeting only if the Centre was involved.

The Bengal chief minister had yesterday said in Calcutta that the people of Darjeeling should come forward with their demands.

“What do you really want? What do you expect from us or the Centre? What do you want to achieve through your movement?” Bhattacharjee had asked.

The chief minister had also appealed to the hill people to work for lasting peace in the region, without which, he said, there could not be any development in the hills.

Binay Tamang, the publicity secretary of the Morcha, said: “It is laughable that the chief minister is not aware of our demand. Our sole demand is the creation of a state called Gorkhaland, comprising the Darjeeling hills and the Dooars and the Terai areas of Bengal.”

He made it clear that his party was not interested in bipartite talks. “We had met the chief minister earlier. We believe that only a tripartite meeting can solve the problems. Let the state and the Centre both take the initiative as we are never against a dialogue,” Tamang added.

Morcha chief Bimal Gurung had met the chief minister in February. The talks had then largely centred on ousting GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh from the post of care- taker administrator of the DGHC and the scrapping of the bill conferring Sixth Schedule status on the hills.

Several Morcha teams have met chief secretary A.K. Deb in the past few months — seeking permission to hold rallies in Siliguri or regularisation of council workers who are mostly on six-month contract, but not statehood.

Analysts believe the Morcha had not broached the subject earlier as it first wanted to consolidate its base in Left-dominated Dooars and Terai. Having made inroads there in the past few months, the Morcha is warming up for talks on a separate state.