Dharna and march called off

Vivek Chhetri Darjeeling, TT, Dec. 18:  The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has called off its dharna in New Delhi and suspended the padayatra undertaken by Bimal Gurung following an appeal from the Prime Minister yesterday, party general secretary Roshan Giri said.

"Since a request has come from none other than the Prime Minister of the country, we have decided to call off the Delhi dharna and suspend the padayatra of our leader Bimal Gurung. We lifted the dharna this evening," Giri said over the phone from Delhi.

The three-day Gorkhaland dharna at Jantar Mantar started yesterday and was to continue till 4pm tomorrow.

Gurung had launched the procession from Kalimpong on October 2. He had said he would walk for more than 400 days to cover 9,000km. He has already covered more than 1,500km in 60-odd days.

Yesterday, a Morcha delegation, along with Darjeeling BJP MP S.S. Ahluwalia met Modi and requested him to form a committee to examine the Gorkhaland demand, grant tribal status to 10 hill communities, set up a Central University and a Sainik School here and grant Rs 200 crore per annum to the GTA for two years.

After the meeting, Gurung had said: "The meeting was among the best so far. The Prime Minister requested me to lift even the three-day Gorkhaland dharna in Delhi and also the padayatra."