Siliguri: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday chaired a tripartite meeting with Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari, Centre-appointed interlocutor and former deputy NSA Pankaj Kumar Singh and political parties of the region and decided that Singh would steer the move for a permanent political solution for the Hills within the framework of the Constitution.Adhikari reiterated that Bengal govt will not accept any proposal on the state’s division but was ready to work towards any other permanent solution.A committee led by Singh will draft the political solution afresh after consulting political parties, social organisations and stakeholders before submitting its recommendations to Centre.The Gorkhaland statehood demand has driven Hills politics for decades, sparking major agitations in 1986-88, 2007-11 and 2017. The 104-day agitation in 2017 caused 11 deaths, major disruption and heavy economic losses, renewing calls for a settlement.Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista said Shah assured that Centre would pursue a constitutional solution and sympathetically consider other community demands. “Union home minister promised a permanent political solution soon under the umbrella of the Constitution. He said adequate funding from Centre will ensure all pending issues are taken care of,” Bista said.Calling the day historic for coinciding with the anniversary of the 1988 Darjeeling Hill Accord, Bista said netas presented grievances of Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars regions to Shah. “Whatever the solution is, it will be under the Constitution. What we will get will be more than what we had hoped for,” he added.Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) general secretary Roshan Giri said the meeting “added momentum”. “We want a constitutional and permanent political solution covering the Hills, Terai and Dooars,” he said.Bengal govt reiterated its territorial stance.Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists president JB Rai said the CM was firm against partitioning Bengal. Speaking to TOI, Rai said: “The CM said apart from division of Bengal, govt was ready to consider any demand and work towards resolving the long-standing problems of Gorkha community.”The other attendees at Saturday’s meeting included hill affairs MoS Bishal Lama, former foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, the Union home secretary, GJM president Bimal Gurung, GNLF president Mann Ghisingh and other netas. The director of Intelligence Bureau, chief secretary and DGP were also present.The meeting follows months of consultations by Singh, appointed in Oct 2025 as interlocutor for the region. Singh previously served as BSF director general. His appointment was opposed by Trinamool govt, which said it was not consulted. The former TMC govt had skipped all tripartite meetings since.The meeting took place 38 years after Left Front govt signed the hill accord on Aug 22, 1988, which created the Subash Ghisingh-led Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) to end violence over the demand for Gorkhaland. In July 2011, TMC govt replaced DGHC with Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), handing its leadership to Gurung.