Bengal and Sikkim had successfully sunk their differences and decided to surge ahead in the path of peace and progress, State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday after emerging from a long meeting with her Sikkim counterpart Pawan Kumar Chamling.
The relationship between the two Governments had hit a low in the recent past following Chamling’s reported moral support to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung who had been agitating for a separate Gorkhaland State.
After the meeting held at Uttar Kanya a secretariat building in Siliguri Banerjee said “differences are the issues of past. Now we will cooperate with each other for development,” in which construction of a railway line between Sevok and Rangpo was also discussed, sources said.
Chamling said differences had been resolved and the two States had decided to surge ahead “in the path of peace and progress. According to sources Chamling was likely to feature in the mega business event hosted by the Bengal Government every year. “Sikkim shall reciprocate to Bengal’s offer’s,” Chamling said.
The development comes hours after Supreme Court turned down Bimal Gurung’s plea to restrain Bengal Government from arresting him. The relationship between the two sides hit such low that the police forces of the two sides virtually clashed with each other when Bengal Police landed at Sikkim to arrest Gurung who was reportedly hiding in that State.