Siliguri, Feb. 11: The Gorkha Vidyarthi Morcha has called a 24-hour strike on Saturday in the areas it wants as part of Gorkhaland to press ahead its demand for a rally in the plains.

The bandh, however, is not expected to affect chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s visit to Siliguri tomorrow.

Although Gorkhaland, the state the Morcha has been demanding, includes Darjeeling district and seven blocks of neighbouring Jalpaiguri, the strike called by the students’ wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is not expected to impact the plains, which are opposed to the division of Bengal.

National Highway 31A, that connects Sikkim to the rest of the country, has been kept outside the bandh’s ambit.