A home guard was set on fire in Darjeeling town on Friday where incidents of arson were reported on the eve of the indefinite bandh called in the hills to demand a separate state of Gorkhaland on the lines of Telangana.
Police fired teargas shells and used batons to disperse the crowd.
With the Gorkhaland agitation going slow following strong measures taken by the administration, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Friday held out an olive branch to the West Bengal government, saying it wanted to clear 'misunderstandings' with it.
Taking West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee head on, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi accused her of playing vote bank politics and said no real 'parivartan' (change) has taken place in the state during the Trinamool Congress' rule.
Security personnel in large numbers were deployed in the hill district of West Bengal after widespread clashes between GJM activists and the police were witnessed on Saturday.
Police earlier fired tear gas shells and lathicharged GJM supporters
The Janata Dal-United on Tuesday became the third major ally after the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal to snap ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party after 2019.
The meeting was attended by the GJM, the GNLF, the Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Morcha, the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (apolitical) and the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists.
Police recovered more than 300 weapons, including arrows and explosives.
"Enough is enough. I have tolerated for eight days. I am very rough and tough. I am giving 72 hours to withdraw the bandh. Do not force me to take strong action," Banerjee told a press conference at the state secretariat.
The indefinite shutdown in Darjeeling hills will be suspended from Wednesday morning.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced Adhikari's name as leader of the BJP legislature party in the assembly after a meeting of the legislators at the party's Hastings office.
Going back on its call for an indefinite shut down in Darjeeling in view of the Eid festival, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Thursday announced a four-day bandh from Saturday to demand a separate Gorkhaland.
A day after the death of Territorial Army's first woman jawan in Jalpaiguri, the police on Wednesday managed to tide over the protests of adivasi organisations and send her body for post mortem.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will sharpen Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign for the high-octane assembly elections in West Bengal with a mega rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata on Sunday.
A Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporter attempted self-immolation in Darjeeling as the indefinite bandh by the GJM for a separate Gorkhaland entered the sixth day on Thursday, even as the West Bengal government said it would follow court orders strictly to maintain normalcy.
Government is unlikely to set up another States Reorganisation Commission to look into the growing demands for creation of separate states in different parts of the country.
Ambulance operators were refusing to carry patients due to fear of harassment.
Tamang said, "All schools in Darjeeling will be given relaxation for 12 hours on June 23 to evacuate students from the city."
In a shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party, two senior leaders of the Asom Gana Parishad on Monday joined the party and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha pledged support to BJP candidates in West Bengal, including the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat.
Normal life was disrupted for the second day on Tuesday due to the 72-hour bandh called in the Darjeeling hills by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to demand Gorkhaland.
After protests by Trinamool Congress, the Centre on Friday promised not to hold any talk with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha without involvement of the West Bengal government and said the recent meeting of the group's leaders with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was "coincidental".
Banerjee scored a personal point with a massive victory in the bypoll with a record margin of 58,835 votes.
Announcing the name of candidates for the West Bengal assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she will be contesting from the Nandigram constituency as announced earlier.
Around 2,000 Gorkha Muslims staged a protest march supporting the Gorkha Jamukti Morcha cause.
Modi, Shah and Nadda have created a strategy to boost the BJP and the government's image.
The West Bengal government had written to the Centre seeking extended deployment of CAPF till December 25, but was told that out of the 15 companies present, 10 would be withdrawn on October 15 and the rest by October 20.
Gorkhaland supporters torched a police outpost, a toytrain station and clashed with the police at two places.
Protesters also burnt effigies of Banerjee and vowed to continue their fight for Gorkhaland.
The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday swept the municipal polls in Bengal, capturing four of seven civic bodies and breaking the 10-year-old hold of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the hills.
The notion that the BJP gained its increased tally by wiping out the Left parties and the Congress is completely misleading. Equally misleading is the belief that the TMC held its ground in all its existing seats. A little more than a fifth of the seats Mamata Banerjee's party had won in 2016 was lost to the BJP this time.
The Trinamool Congress won 211 seats.
'When I look at the faces of people around me, they have a certain energy, as if unemployment, food scarcity and infrastructural breakdown are small sacrifices for our agitation for Gorkhaland,' a Gorkha based in Delhi tells Geetanjali Krishna.
Jaswant Singh may have fallen to political designs within his party. But his lack of connect with his voters is bound to make the Barmer contest tougher for him to win.
Pitted against Bharatiya Janata Party's S S Ahluwalia who has the backing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Trinamool Congress nominee Baichung Bhutia said the real issue in Darjeeling hills was not a separate state, but lack of development.
It was the state government which has violated human rights and slapped false cases against the GJM, he claimed.
Gurung is worth his weight in gold to the BJP which is trying hard to make inroads in West Bengal
Tempers ran high over Gorkhaland issue in the Lok Sabha on Thursday with a Trinamool Congress member attacking senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh for making a strong plea for a political solution to the issue but later expressed regret.
Most of the coded signals and communications were in Nepali and Tibetan languages.
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