Speaking on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce, Mukherjee said: “We are ready to hold talks with the GJM but without any preconditions.”

He also said that the Centre would not allow the division of West Bengal — a line that was also stated by the state unit of the Congress party on Friday.

Earlier, Mukherjee held a closed door meeting with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee where the two leaders discussed the prevailing situation in the hills.

Sources said that Bhattacharjee briefed Mukherjee about the steps the state government had taken to tackle the situation and informed him about GJM’s refusal to the government’s call for bipartite talks.

Mukherjee added that the Centre is keeping a close eye on the developments and hinted that the Centre did not want to intervene in the matter, yet, but was nevertheless ready to hold talks with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders.

On Friday, GJM leader Bimal Gurung had sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office urging Manmohan Singh to hold a tripartite meeting — Centre, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the state government — to resolve the present crisis.

The Left Front government in the state had earlier said that it was the Centre that could only decide on the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s demand for a separate statehood.

Mukherjee’s statement has come as a breather for the Left.

Reacting to it, a senior CPM leader said: “We have been saying for quite sometime that the state government has nothing to do with the demand for a separate state. It is clearly the prerogative of the Union government.”

He added: “This is why the chief minister had initiated the process for the inclusion of Darjeeling in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. In this context, we welcome Pranab Mukherjee’s comments.”

Meanwhile, the GJM has also welcomed Mukherjee’s comments.

Roshan Giri, the GJM spokesperson, said that they would certainly attend any tripartite meeting called by the Central government.