With the Centre conceding to the demand for a Telangana state bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha on Thursday demanded for a separate 'Gorkhaland' should also be allowed and announced a three-day bandh in Darjeeling hills from December 14.
Gorkhaland supporters called for a bandh in Darjeeling for their own state, while Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh threatened to resume the agitation for a separate Harit Pradesh, as the planned statehood for Telangana sparked fresh demands to create new states.
The Army on Tuesday said its Court of Inquiry into the alleged scam involving a private land adjacent to Sukhna military station near Darjeeling was 'still in progress' and no conclusions have been drawn in the probe against the three Lieutenant Generals being questioned in the fraud.
In a stern two-page letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said stricter enforcement of lockdown norms was necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus in the state.
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Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor today "due action," on Thursday, under the Army Act against four generals allegedly involved in the Darjeeling land scam but said dispensing of justice will not be swayed by external considerations like "personal biases" and "media pressure".
National Disaster Response Force personnel left the spot, while State Disaster Management Department personnel continued their rescue work at the accident site with cranes, earth movers and drilling machines.
"Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash has taken leave for ten days beginning Tuesday," senior Army officers said in New Delhi amidst speculation that he was asked to proceed on leave by Army chief General Deepak Kapoor.
Army chief Deepak Kapoor will take 'some disciplinary and administrative action' against the four Generals involved in a land scam in Darjeeling, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Wednesday. The ministry had received a report from the Army chief in this regard on Tuesday night and it was 'too early' for him to comment on the action to be taken against the Generals. "The defence ministry received a report from the Army chief," he said.
The Indian Army on Monday decided to issue show cause notices to a top General and three other senior officers named in a land scam in Darjeeling, amidst speculation that soon-to-retire Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash may escape sacking.
The fourth round of tripartite talks on Gokhaland issue on Monday failed to come to an agreement in the absence of a consensus and the organisation spearheading the movement for a separate state has sought political dialogue at the next round of talks within 45 days.
Darjeeling Member of Parliament and expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh raised the demand for creation of Gorkhaland state in the Lok Sabha, on Monday, saying the people of the region were already "emotionally separated" from rest of West Bengal.
Union Finance Minister and West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pranab Mukheree on Sunday ruled out any further division of West Bengal.The minister said no problem could be solved by force and hoped that the GJM would call off its indefinite bandh in the Darjeeling Hills.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha activists demanding release of some of their supporters went on the rampage on Friday, setting ablaze the house of a Gorkha National Liberation Front leader in Darjeeling district and hurling stones at the police when they intervened, leading to a baton charge on them.
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Lt Gen P K Rath, who has been indicted along with former Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash in the Sukna land scam in Darjeeling, on Thursday approached the Delhi High Court against his court-martial order.
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"There is a cover-up going on and we have to find out who is at the bottom of this," Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising said about the land scam case in which Prakash and three other Generals have been indicted by a Court of Inquiry for giving a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to a private realtor to construct an educational institute on a plot of land adjacent to Sukna army base in Darjeeling.
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The West Bengal government arrested Binay Tamang, one of the top leaders of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha and a member of its central committee, around midnight on Wednesday.
With two top Army generals being indicted by a Court of Inquiry (COI) for their role in a land scam in Darjeeling, the Centre on Tuesday said it had asked the Army to look into the matter and take "appropriate decisions."
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The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which has been invited by the Centre to a third tripartite meeting in New Delhi on August 24, on Wednesday said it was 'meaningless' and would not call off the indefinite shutdown which entered the third day in the Darjeeling hills.
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Sikkim was cut off from the rest of the country when Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha activists blocked the National Highway 31A early on Saturday as part of their 24-hour strike in the Darjeeling Hills region. Vehicular traffic between Sikkim and Siliguri via the NH-31A has been totally paralysed since early morning, police officials at Rangpo inter-state border checkpost said. Only a few vehicles belonging to the military forces, press persons and some ambulances were seen.
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Bowing to the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha's demand, the West Bengal government on Wednesday said it will seek from the Centre a tripartite meeting to resolve the Darjeeling crisis in a few days.
Intensifying their efforts to hold tripartite talks on their demand for a separate state, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha on Friday wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee asking him to take an initiative in the matter.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Thursday said it was no longer interested in holding talks with the West Bengal government on Gorkhaland issue and was awaiting tripartite talks in Delhi.
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"There will be no discussion with the morcha on the statehood demand, but talks can be held on administrative arrangements and greater autonomy (for Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council)," Chief Secretary A K Deb told reporters at Writers' Buildings. Deb said in the absence of Morcha president Bimal Gurung, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would talk to any GJM representative.
Bhaichung Bhutia, India's iconic former football captain, is set to try his political luck again, this time in his native state of Sikkim, as he plans to contest the assembly elections due this year.
Talks between the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the West Bengal government on the Darjeeling crisis are expected to take place in Kolkata on June 25.
Stating that the GJM was seeking appointment with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and the Leader of the Opposition L K Advani, Gurung told PTI from Darjeeling that a delegation, comprising GJM central committee members, would meet MPs of different political parties.
