If you give Telangana, give us Gorkhaland: GJM to Centre

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Thursday asked the government to consider its demand for a Gorkhaland state if it takes into consideration creation of a separate Telangana.

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri conveyed to Union Home Secretary R K Singh that the demand for Gorkhaland was one of the oldest in the country and the Centre cannot ignore it if it decides to create a separate Telangana.

Giri said the home secretary told the GJM delegation that he would convey their demand to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

"We will also meet the home minister within a day or two and after that we will go back to Darjeeling to take stock of the situation. And if the central government decides to create Telangana, it will have to give Gorkhaland to us too," he told reporters in New Delhi.

After rejecting the GJM's demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland, carved out of West Bengal, the government has constituted the Gorkha Territorial Administration with additional administrative and financial powers.

The GJM's fresh demand came after Congress Wednesday said that it was not against formation of Telangana, but the government was in the process of taking a decision.

Making a strong pitch for separate Telangana, Nationalist Congress Party chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that a delay in the matter would not be helpful.