TNN Jul 17, 2011, 12.59am IST
KOLKATA: Left Front has decided to stay away from the signing of the tripartite accord at Pintail village near Siliguri on Monday.
The leader of the opposition in the assembly, Surjya Kanta Mishra, on Saturday turned down the invitation from parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee to attend the ceremony in presence of Union home minister P Chidambaram. Mishra fears that the proposed expansion of the territory of the new body, as it has come out in the media, would incite feelings in the Hills, foothills and the plains, instead of sorting out the problem.
Mishra blamed the Centre for "changing its stance" on the territorial jurisdiction of the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).
"I had been to some of the tripartite meetings held earlier in Delhi as minister of the Left Front government along with Asok Bhattacharya. The Centre had prepared a draft for discussion that proposed setting up of an autonomous body, sharing of powers and other issues. But the draft specifically mentioned that the geographical area of the new autonomous body will be the same as that under the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council. But now I find that the Centre and the state have changed their stance and have included the territorial expansion clause as part of the draft tripartite agreement. We have not been formally communicated about this development, neither was there an all-party meeting or a reference in the assembly about this. I fear that such a move would open a Pandora's box in view of the developments elsewhere in the country and further complicate this sensitive problem," he said.
Former minister and CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya, who sat beside him at the press meet at the party state headquarters, flaunted a letter from the Union home minister to the Left Front government January 21, three days ahead of the tripartite meeting in Delhi. "The Union home minister in his letter named the autonomous body Gorkhaland Autonomous Authority (GAO) and stated that the area would be the same as those under the DGHC. Accordingly, we discussed about the sharing of powers in the meeting on January 25. The Gokha Janmukti Morcha representatives were amiable to the contents before they came back to the Hills and decided otherwise," Bhattacharya said.
Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-17/kolkata/29784005_1_tripartite-meeting-left-front-surjya-kanta-mishra
KOLKATA: Left Front has decided to stay away from the signing of the tripartite accord at Pintail village near Siliguri on Monday.
The leader of the opposition in the assembly, Surjya Kanta Mishra, on Saturday turned down the invitation from parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee to attend the ceremony in presence of Union home minister P Chidambaram. Mishra fears that the proposed expansion of the territory of the new body, as it has come out in the media, would incite feelings in the Hills, foothills and the plains, instead of sorting out the problem.
Mishra blamed the Centre for "changing its stance" on the territorial jurisdiction of the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).
"I had been to some of the tripartite meetings held earlier in Delhi as minister of the Left Front government along with Asok Bhattacharya. The Centre had prepared a draft for discussion that proposed setting up of an autonomous body, sharing of powers and other issues. But the draft specifically mentioned that the geographical area of the new autonomous body will be the same as that under the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council. But now I find that the Centre and the state have changed their stance and have included the territorial expansion clause as part of the draft tripartite agreement. We have not been formally communicated about this development, neither was there an all-party meeting or a reference in the assembly about this. I fear that such a move would open a Pandora's box in view of the developments elsewhere in the country and further complicate this sensitive problem," he said.
Former minister and CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya, who sat beside him at the press meet at the party state headquarters, flaunted a letter from the Union home minister to the Left Front government January 21, three days ahead of the tripartite meeting in Delhi. "The Union home minister in his letter named the autonomous body Gorkhaland Autonomous Authority (GAO) and stated that the area would be the same as those under the DGHC. Accordingly, we discussed about the sharing of powers in the meeting on January 25. The Gokha Janmukti Morcha representatives were amiable to the contents before they came back to the Hills and decided otherwise," Bhattacharya said.
Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-17/kolkata/29784005_1_tripartite-meeting-left-front-surjya-kanta-mishra