The Telegraph

Kalimpong, March 15: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president will not attend the first round of the political-level tripartite talks scheduled in New Delhi on Thursday because Bengal municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya will be part of the state government delegation.

“Since Asok Bhattacharya is attending the meeting, I will not be present in Delhi. How can I sit with a person who had called us foreigners,” Bimal Gurung said.

Instead, an eight-member team headed by Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri will attend the fifth round of tripartite meeting which is largely expected to centre around a dispensation proposed by the party.

However, the biggest surprise in the composition of the Morcha team is the omission of Anmole Prasad, a lawyer and the spokesperson for the Morcha’s delegation in the past four rounds of tripartite talks.

Prasad has been replaced by Amar Rai, a former vice-principal of Loreto College, now renamed Southfield College. When The Telegraph caught up with Prasad, who was not present during the release of the Morcha’s “secret” proposal at Deolo Tourist Lodge this evening, he said: “I have a number of hearings scheduled during that period and hence I would be busy with my professional work.”

Asked whether he was aware of the Morcha’s “secret proposal” to the Centre, given the fact that he has been the party spokesperson at the tripartite meetings, Prasad answered in the negative.

Gurung disclosed that “only two people” were aware of the secret proposal that was sent to the Centre.

“It is only this morning that I told Amar Lama (central committee member), Binay Tamang (assistant general secretary) and Harka Bahadur Chhetri (party spokesperson), about the details of the proposal. Even the central committee leaders were unaware of the details,” said Gurung. He, however, did not disclose the identity of the two people who were in the know of the document.

Apart from Giri and Rai, the Morcha team includes Amar Lama, Harka Bahadur Chhetri, L.B. Pariyar, a former principal secretary of the DGHC, Rohit Sharma, a member of the Morcha study forum, Suryanarayan Pradhan, a member of the study forum of the Dooars, and P. Arjun, a member study forum from Siliguri.

The Morcha president said the March 18 meeting was expected to be long as the party did not want to compromise on territory. “There are other issues also and it could take three-four rounds of talks for an agreement to be reached,” Gurung added.

————
www.kalimpong.info