Not for separate Gorkhaland state, BJP clarifies

State BJP leaders including party president Dilip Ghosh have been summoned to Delhi for a meeting with party chief Amit Shah on Tuesday night to work out a nuanced party line on the burning issue.

New Delhi, Jun 27: The BJP on Tuesday said that it does not support its ally Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's demand for a separate state comprising Darjeeling and parts of north Bengal but called for addressing the region's cultural and political concerns.

Its chief Amit Shah, who arrived here following a two-day tour of Puducherry, met party leaders, including general secretary and Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya.

A BJP leader, however, played down the meeting's import, saying Shah routinely meets party leaders and it should not be linked with the issue.

Earlier in the day, Vijayvargiya told reporters that his party does not support the demand of a separate state and blamed the state's Mamata Banerjee government for triggering a crisis by undermining the Gorkha Territorial Administration. He said the cultural and political concerns of the people in the region needed to be addressed and the BJP was for empowering the GTA and taking other measures.

Party sources said a separate state of Gorkhaland, as is the GTA's demand, would create security concerns due to its location, it shares borders with Nepal, and would be economically unfeasible too. They said a delegation could meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh, asking him to take measures to address the concerns of the people in the region.

PTI