SILIGURI, June 17 -- Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) president Anit Thapa on Wednesday resigned as chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

The development comes a day after West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari visited the Darjeeling hills and declared that the region would see development only under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime.

Owning responsibility for BGPM's defeat in the recent assembly elections, Thapaw, also resigned as a sabhasad (municipal councillor) of the GTA.

BGPM had won the 2022 GTA elections and formed the board in the semi-autonomous development body.

"Many people considered GTA as a hurdle to finding a permanent political solution to the Gorkha issues," Thapa s...