The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) suspended party leader Mahendra Chhetri on Saturday for holding a meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi earlier this week.

The GNLF is an ally of the BJP in the hills.

Chhetri’s decision to meet Rahul on December 26 came as a major embarrassment for the hill party.

Mann Ghisingh, the president of the GNLF, served a suspension notice to Chhetri on Saturday, and said Chhetri met Rahul in Delhi without “the consent and approval of the (party's) central committee".

“Your actions are perceived as a breach of the party’s established protocols, particularly considering our status as a constituent ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA),” stated Ghisingh in the letter.

“In light of this, the Central Committee has made the decision to suspend your membership in the Gorkha National Liberation Front party for a period of two years, effective immediately,” Ghisingh's letter goes on, adding that Chhetri could feel free to contact the central committee if he wished to appeal against this decision.

Soon after meeting Rahul, Chhetri told The Telegraph that he had attended the meeting in Delhi as the GNLF “general secretary” at the invitation of the Congress.

“I went there as the general secretary of the party. I spoke about the demand for Sixth Schedule which our party has been raising consistently,” said Chhetri.

Neeraj Zimba, the GNLF secretary-general and Darjeeling BJP MLA claimed Chhetri had not been the party's general secretary for a long time. "The party appointed him (Chhetri) as a pro tem general secretary for six months. That period has long expired,” Zimba had said.

Chhetri’s meeting with Rahul had created a flutter within the GNLF, especially when the BJP, has not been able to fulfill its 2019 Lok Sabha poll promises of granting tribal status to 11 Gorkha communities and finding a “permanent political solution” for the hills.