There are reports in West Bengal about a partnership between Nepal's Maoist rebels and the political parties of Darjeeling that have been fighting for Gorkhaland. The godfather of the Gorkhaland movement and Chairman of the Darjeeling Gorkha National Liberation Front, Subash Ghising, said recently that a struggle like that of Nepal's Maoists was necessary to establish Darjeeling as Gorkhaland. Fanning the debate further, West Bengal's Nepali papers have reported that communist parties are preparing to form an alliance with Nepal's Maoist rebels to fight for Gorkhaland. A splinter group of the DGNLF has even said it is already forming an alliance with the Maoists to fight for a free Gorkhaland. Nepalis residing in Darjeeling and its surrounding areas since 1950 have been demanding a separate state. But the Marxist Communist Party leader and Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddha Deb Bhattacharya, has rejected this.