“I had tried to seek a middle path, asking for an autonomous council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution but it has been delayed for two years,” said Ghisingh at a guest house in Siliguri town. Now the GNLF will revert to the statehood demand, he told mediapersons.

Asked whom should the Centre and the state governments talk to, since the issue of separate Gorkhaland had been raised by the Darjeeling Gorkha Janamukti Morcha as well, Ghisingh replied: “Now they should talk to all quarters who have raised this demand.”

Meanwhile, Janamukti Morcha leaders met Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP leaders L K Advani and Rajnath Singh in New Delhi during the day and submitted memoranda. The party is demanding statehood for Darjeeling, comprising the three existing hill sub divisions, parts of Siliguri and Terai, and a part of the Dooars region inhabited by Nepalis. Talking to The Indian Express, Roshan Giri, a spokesman for the Morcha, said the leaders gave a “patient hearing to our views and demands. We are hopeful that the sentiments of the hill people would be honoured.”

Meanwhile, in the hills, the Morcha unofficially sponsored an alternate hourly bandh on Thursday to prevent Ghisingh from going up to the hills even as he returned to Siliguri after staying a week in Kolkata and later in New Delhi.

Asked about his promise to step down by March 10, Ghisingh said he wanted to do so from Lal Kothi but he might do that from Siliguri or any other place.