Jholung (Kalimpong), Jan. 28: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung today said he had sent a “secret proposal” to Delhi to make the demand for statehood more “palatable”.

Although he refused to elaborate, Morcha sources said the “secret” document had redefined the geographical area of “Gorkhaland” to include only the Gorkha-dominated areas of the hills and the Dooars and not the entire region, as had been its demand so far.

In a map drawn up and circulated by the Morcha earlier, “Gorkhaland” included not only the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, but also the entire Siliguri sub-division and the Dooars which make up around half of Jalpaiguri district.

If the Morcha sticks to its revised stand, it will mean that only those areas in the Dooars with considerable presence of Gorkhas, not the entire region, will be included in the demand for a Gorkhaland state.

In the past year, as the Morcha tried to establish its presence in the Dooars, frequent clashes have broken out between the Gorkhas and the Adivasis who are opposed to the demand for a Gorkha state.

In a further “concession”, Gurung said he had given Delhi time till 2011 to deliberate on and consider the “secret proposal”.

Morcha sources said this apparent softening in Gurung’s stand was a reflection of the pressure being brought upon him by members of the party’s central committee to settle for an “interim arrangement” instead of insisting on “nothing short of immediate statehood”.

This is because, Morcha sources said, many of the central committee members have realised that given the political compulsions of the Centre against the backdrop of the events surrounding the Telangana flare-up, Delhi is unlikely to agree to the Morcha’s statehood demand.

Besides, Morcha leaders also realise that the Trinamul Congress is the second-largest partner in the UPA government and that Mamata Banerjee would never agree to a bifurcation of Bengal.

Gurung said he would reveal the contents of the “secret proposal” before the next round of tripartite talks. “I will make it public before the fifth round of tripartite talks, whether or not the Centre responds to it by then,” Gurung said. “But I can assure you that the proposal will benefit the three hill sub-divisions, Siliguri and the Dooars.”

The latest round of tripartite talks was held in Darjeeling on December 21. Delhi had said it would announce the dates for the next round by February 6.

However, despite his assurance that he has given Delhi till 2011 to respond, there was little indication today of any let-up in the statehood movement the Morcha has launched.

A daily two-hour blockade of roads in the hills is on and Gurung urged his supporters to “keep up the momentum of the movement” and “not to lose sight of their goal”.

“The movement will continue in its current form to keep up the pressure on both the state and the Centre, but there might not be something drastic like an indefinite shutdown of the hills as has happened on a few occasions earlier,” a Morcha leader said. “But in the end, everything depends on Bimal Gurung.”