CRPF personnel patrol Darjeeling town. Picture by Suman Tamang

Siliguri, May 27: The CPM today accused the Centre-appointed interlocutor for the tripartite talks on Darjeeling of hobnobbing with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and asked the government not to allow the hill party to hold a rally on Sunday.

Jibesh Sarkar, a CPM state committee member, today said: “The support base of the Morcha has already shrunk in the hills (after Madan Tamang’s murder) as compared to what it had enjoyed earlier. But we are surprised to see that the interlocutor, Lt Gen. (retd) Vijay Madan, is meeting them and has requested the party leaders to carry on the dialogue with the state and the Centre. We think that he is not playing an impartial role.”

The CPM leader appealed to the state government to consider the present support base of the Morcha before inviting it to the next tripartite talks in Delhi.

“After Tamang’s murder, we noticed that thousands of people came out on the roads and openly vented their anger on the party. We have informed the state government that considering the present situation in the hills, it must reconsider the decision to invite the Morcha to the next tripartite meeting,” Sarkar said.

Tomorrow urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya and Saman Pathak, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP, will go to Darjeeling to pay respects to the late ABGL leader, Sarkar said.

In the evening, the district CPM will organise a rally in Siliguri demanding restoration of democracy and measures to maintain the law and order in the hills.

“We have come to know that the Morcha will organise a huge rally in Darjeeling on Sunday and has already started threatening the common people, which we condemn. We have asked the administration not to allow such meeting before ensuring safety and security for the residents and maintaining peaceful atmosphere in the hills,” Sarkar said.