Mamata to hold All-Party meeting at Uttarkanya today

Darjeeling, Sep 12: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today going to hold the second round crucial meeting of all political parties operating in Darjeeling hills at the north Bengal secretariat, Uttarkanya on the current unrest crippling life for the past three months since June 8. The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) yesterday issued a statement, saying its nine-member delegation, headed by president Mann Ghishing, would attend the second round of dialogue, scheduled to be held from 1500 hours here. It said the government has invited the GNLF to attend the meeting as it did in the first on August 29 at Nabanna . Meanwhile, pro-Bimal Gurung faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) named a six-member delegation, including three MLAs, to attend the government-sponsored all-party meeting. Darjeeling MLA Amar Rai, Kalimpong MLA Sarita Rai,and Kurseong MLA Rohit Sharma, besides Kalimpong Municipality Chairman Subha Pradhan, Morcha central committee leaders R B Bhujel and Saugat Thapa will be attending the meeting. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha assistant secretary Jyoti Kumar Rai said, " The central committee has decided to send six-member delegation to the meeting today in the state all party meeting." Expelled GJM leader Anit Thapa also said they got invitation from the government and send seven members for the meeting. Both Binoy Tamang and Anit Thapa, the expelled from the GJM, would attend the meeting as GJM the representatives. Jan Andolan Party (JAP) leader Harka Bahadur Chettri, who attended the first meeting, is expected to attend the meeting along with some other members. Throughout the course of impasse in the Hills, the chief minister has led untiring efforts in bringing normalcy back in the region. She has time and again stressed on holding dialogues. The first meeting towards solving the issues was held a few weeks back at the State Secretariat, Nabanna. It had a very positive outcome, and provided the impetus for the second meeting to be held today. UNI