Asok and Surjya on Gorkha talks panel - Morcha mum, waits for official communication on names

Ministers Asok Bhattacharya and Surjya Kanta Mishra will represent the state at the political-level talks with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on March 18, the Bengal government said today.

There were no surprises when chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti announced the name of Morcha bete noir municipal affairs and urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya as one of the representatives. Bhattacharya’s name has been doing the rounds for sometime. The other representative, Mishra, is in charge of health and is a member of the CPM’s state secretariat.

The Morcha leadership had said on Sunday that it would declare the composition of its team only after the Bengal government disclosed the names of its representatives.

Told about today’s announcement, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said in Darjeeling: “Let us receive the official communication, then only we will react.”

At Writers’ Buildings today, Chakrabarti told reporters: “The municipal affairs minister and the health minister will attend the March 18 tripartite talks in Delhi over issues pertaining to the recent developments in the Darjeeling hills.”

Asked about the Morcha’s reservations to have Bhattacharya on the talks table, Chakrabarti said: “We cannot decide who will represent the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha at the talks. Similarly they, too, cannot dictate terms on who would represent the government at the Match 18-meeting. That simply cannot happen.”

State home secretary Ardhendu Sen will accompany the two ministers to Delhi to “assist them” for the fifth round of tripartite talks. “The home secretary will be going to Delhi to assist the health minister and the municipal affairs minister. I cannot tell you whether he will participate in the talks,” Chakrabarti said when asked if the bureaucrat would take part in the meeting to be held at the political level.

The Union home ministry on Saturday formally intimated to the Morcha the date of the meeting along with names of its representatives. The four-member panel would be led by junior home affairs minister Ajay Maken. The other central representative is the Trinamul Congress minister of state, Dinesh Trivedi.

After the last round of talks in Darjeeling on December 21, Union home secretary G.K. Pillai had announced that the fifth round of talks would be at the political level, acceding to a request made by the Morcha leadership.

On March 2, Union home minister P. Chidambaram announced the date for the fifth round. The cabinet committee on political affairs had suggested such a panel for the fifth round of talks last month.