Assurances of resignations, started pouring in, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders on Monday declared that “all members of the 15 development boards’’ set up by the state government will be putting in their papers. “We have received letters from members of all 15 boards saying they wish to resign. All members will be resigning from these boards soon. However, we have not heard from the chairmen of these boards,” said GJM spokesperson Binoy Tamang, adding that “all of them have been holed up in Siliguri”. “They are all being kept in Siliguri in government accommodations so they can be controlled,” he claimed.
According to the GJM spokesperson, board members will be taking part in rallies in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong over the next couple of days. However, Chun Kuacha of the 32-member Bhutia Board said many members are still “undecided”. Around nine members of the Bhutia Board, including Kuacha, have decided to resign. “We have taken this decision today. We will be submitting our resignations to the chairman of the board soon. I can’t speak for the other members of the board. From what I know, they are still undecided,” he said.
The 15 development boards were set up by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the last couple of years, one of the earliest being the Lepcha Development Board, established in 2013, two years after Mamata came to power and a year after the signing of the tripartite agreement (between the Centre, the state and the GJM) to form the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).