Though a group of leaders associated with the Kamtapur movement in North Bengal met Alipurduar’s BJP MP John Barla, the president of the Kamtapur People’s Party (United), Nikhil Roy, has said that his party had not yet decided on whether to support Mr Barla in his demand for a separate state or Union Territory for north Bengal.

Mr Roy today also said there was no plan of his party merging with the KPP (Kamtapur Progressive Party), after the death of its president, Atul Roy, so as to renew the demand for a separate state. Sources said that central committee members of the KPP will hold a meeting soon to formulate their next course of action.

“A section of supporters of the Kamtapur movement has started discussing a possible merger of the two organisations after the death of Atul Roy, but nothing has been discussed about it. KPP has its separate central committee and it has a separate ideology. Our ideology is different,” Nikhil Roy said today.

Notably, Atul Roy had come closer to Trinamul Congress chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee in recent times on the issue of recognition of the Kamtapuri language and other such issues.

Asked to comment, Nikhil Roy said: “We are not close to anyone–neither the Trinamul Congress nor the BJP.”

“As the issue of a separate state in North Bengal has come to the fore, we have planned to renew our demand for a separate state. We held a meeting on it a few days ago. We will hold another meeting with like-minded organisations soon,” Mr Roy said over the phone today.

“We demand north Bengal as a separate state from Malda (up to the left bank of Ganga) to Cooch Behar, including the Hills. We had readied a map of the proposed separate state, comprising eight districts of north Bengal,” Mr Roy said, adding, “The map prepared by Greater Coochbehar was different from ours.”

Mr Roy recalled how the police took action against them for demanding a separate state during the Left regime and how the present government had “copied the style of the previous government.”

Notably, Miss Banerjee has alerted the administration to keep a close eye on any fresh movement for any separate state demand in north Bengal. Top police officials of North Bengal today held a meeting in Siliguri and reviewed the situation, keeping in mind all the aspects. The Additional Director General of the Intelligence Branch (IB), Niraj Singh, held the high-level meeting with senior police officials of north Bengal in Siliguri today.

Wellplaced sources said Mr Singh reviewed the overall situation, including the renewed activities of the outlawed Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, and resurfacing of the demand for a separate state or Union Territory. The self-styled chief of the KLO, Jeevan Singha, had purportedly released video clips very recently, asserting that the outfit would continue to fight for a separate state.

The Additional Director General and Inspector General of Police, north Bengal, Devendra Prakash Singh, said it was a coordination meeting that they held today.  The Deputy Inspector General of Police of the region, Siliguri police commissioner Gaurav Sharma, and other IB officers were among those present.

Mr Barla has raised the issue of a separate state or Union Territory, by showcasing some problems like “underdevelopment, deprivation, crisis in democracy, and question of national security,” which is allegedly under threat in the ‘Chicken Neck’ region in north Bengal.

Mr Barla has also alleged that several Rohingyas have settled down in this region and had been trying to keep control of the localities. The Siliguri police commissioner himself released a video message recently, urging all house owners to provide information of their tenants to their respective police stations.