Ghisingh rules out stepping down as caretaker administrator

Kolkata, Feb 23 (UNI) Refusing to concede the demand of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha(GJM), Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Chairman Subash Ghisingh today said he would not step down as caretaker administrator till the term was over next month.

'' There is no question of resigning the post till the term of DGHC expires on March 24 and an interim council takes over, '' he told reporters after a meeting with Chief Minister Buddadeb Bhattacharjee.

The beleagured Gorkha leader, who used to hold sway in Darjeeling, was facing a formidable challenge to his authority for the first time in two decades with GJM, a breakaway group of his party Gorkha National Liberation Front(GNLF), demanding his ouster and reviving the separate statehood demand.

Mr Ghising was confined to Pintail Village, a resort 3 km from Siliguri, since Monday following a siege to the hills by the GJM activists before arriving in Kolkata yesterday to meet the Chief Minister.

''I have apprised the Chief Minister of the current situation in Darjeeling as administrator of DGHC. I will also meet the Governor on Monday, '' he said.

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