No elections to DGHC till ‘alternative’ found: Ghising

GNLF leader Subhash Ghising has ruled out holding elections to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council till his demand for an ‘‘alterna...

GNLF leader Subhash Ghising has ruled out holding elections to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council till his demand for an ‘‘alternative’’ to the Council was met by the state and the Central governments.

Assuming charge as the sole administrator in the caretaker DGHC in Darjeeling yesterday, Ghising said that his party wanted an ‘‘alternative’’ to the Council but did not elaborate. He warned the state, Centre and Opposition parties in the hills that he should not be ‘‘underestimated’’.

GNLF MLA from Kurseong, Shanta Chhetri, and the party’s Darjeeling branch committee president, Dipak Gurung, however, claimed that Ghising was referring to the demand of a separate state.

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Gurung said over phone that the DGHC should be given constitutional recognition under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The hill people would treat this as a major success towards the achievement of a separate state for the Gorkhas, Gurung added.

He said that the GNLF was happy with the West Bengal government for deleting the word ‘‘autonomous’’ from the nomenclature of the caretaker council as per the party’s demand.

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