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.
"The state government will request the Centre for arranging a tripartite meeting before the special session of Parliament as requested by GJM chief Bimal Gurung," Home Secretary Asok Mohan Chakraborty told media persons.
The government's decision to move the Centre came a day after Gurung wrote to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee requesting him to take the initiative for tripartite talks in New Delhi at the earliest.
Gurung's letter was in reply to Bhattacharjee's letter on July 5, in which he had agreed to tripartite talks as desired by the GJM.
The GJM has welcomed the state government's decision.
"We have been demanding a tripartite meeting. It is good that the chief minister has taken the initiative," GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI from Darjeeling.
"Now we will talk on our demand for Gorkhaland at the tripartite meeting and we hope that the government will consider our demand," Giri said.
The GJM wants creation of Gorkhaland comprising of the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong, besides the Siliguri subdivision in the plains and the adjacent Dooars subdivision in North Bengal.
