Darjeeling BJP MLA Raju Bista, during a victory rally of his party in Kurseong on Tuesday, said that the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) would be scrapped.

Earlier in the day, Bista met Pankaj Kumar Singh, former deputy national security adviser, who has been appointed as an interlocutor to look into the issues of Darjeeling, the Terai and the Dooars, in Siliguri.

Bista said: “I had the pleasure of meeting with the interlocutor and government of India representative Shri Pankaj Kumar Singhji. The important work he had been undertaking had been paused for the past two months due to the elections.”

The Centre had earlier said that the interlocutor had been appointed as the then Trinamool government in Bengal had failed to send adequate representation to three tripartite meetings called by the Centre on October 7, 2020, October 12, 2021, and April 3, 2025.

At the Kurseong victory rally, Bista said: “The GTA will be scrapped now…. Today, the GTA is like a dead body with no soul. There is no work for the GTA now. I had said during the poll campaign that the GTA is a problem for the Gorkhas, and this problem has to end.”

The GTA was formed in 2012 following agitations for the Gorkhaland state since 2007.

The Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), Trinamool's hill ally, is currently in control of the hill body.

Bista said that the BGPM leaders had no moral right to continue with the GTA after the results of the Bengal Assembly polls. The BJP won 207 seats, including all three hill seats.

“I don’t know why they have not resigned,” said Bista, adding that norms would be followed to scrap the GTA.

“Whatever government norms have to be followed will be done. Only yesterday (Monday), the administrators of three hill municipalities were removed. We will soon conduct (civic) elections,” said Bista.

Elections to the municipalities of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik have been due since 2022. So far, the civic bodies were administered by boards of administrators comprising BGPM and Trinamool leaders.

Bista said that the “permanent political solution” for the hills would have “a constitutional guarantee, recognised by the Constitution”.

BJP ally, the Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, has been talking of the “best of the best solution from the Northeast” for the hills. Many areas of the Northeast are governed by provisions of the Sixth Schedule.