BJP to go alone in Sikkim Assembly poll

BJP will go it alone in the Sikkim assembly election, which is due in April next year, and will field candidates for all the 32 seats, party state unit spokesperson Kamal Adhikari said on Wednesday.

”We are not satisfied with our alliance with the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM),” Adhikari told reporters here.

He, however, did not elaborate on it but expressed confidence that BJP will all the seats without any alliance support.

Meanwhile, a high-level team of the BJP in Sikkim met Governor Laxman Prasad Acharya at the Rajbhavan on Wednesday and demanded a CBI inquiry into Padam Gurung’s death.

The body of 21-year-old president of the students’ representative council of Namchi Government College, was found in a drain at Kazitar in Namchi district, around 77 km from here, in the last week of June this year.

Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, who is the founder of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, is the home minister of the north eastern state.

Adhikari condemned the ”unwarranted” lathi charge and use of force by the police on Monday on protestors demanding investigation into Gurung’s death.

The CBI enquiry will ensure fair investigation, the BJP said and warned that it will hit the road and hold an all-party rally for justice to the deceased family if the government failed to ensure the probe, a BJP release said.

“The unwarranted lathi charge against innocent citizens who were exercising their constitutional right to assemble peacefully is deeply troubling and goes against the principles of democracy and human rights,” it added.

The peaceful protest (on Monday) faced ”unnecessary aggression” by the law enforcement agencies resulting in injuries and distress among the protestors, the BJP said.

”Our organisation stands firmly in solidarity with those who were affected and demands an immediate investigation into the incident to apprehend those responsible and hold them accountable for their actions,” Adhikari said.

SKM has 17 members in the house. BJP which had none added 14 MLAs after they defected from the opposition Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which is now left with a sole lawmaker. SKM had defeated the 25-year-old rule of the SDF supremo Pawan Chamling in the state election in 2019. The defection from the SDF to BJP took place after the general election that year.

With inputs from News18

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