Ten MLAs of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) joined the BJP on Tuesday, making the latter the main Opposition party in the Sikkim, where it failed to win a single seat in the recent Assembly polls.
The MLAs joined the BJP in the presence of its national general secretary Ram Madhav, who is in-charge of the party’s affairs in the northeast, and later met party working president J.P. Nadda.
Mr. Madhav told reporters that the SDF had a strength of 13 MLAs and its legislature party had decided to merge with the BJP.
The BJP is running governments as the main party or in alliance with regional parties in all the northeastern States except Sikkim. With this development, the BJP will become the principal Opposition party in Sikkim.
The party won 15 seats while its rival, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), won 17 in the 32-member Assembly. Since two of the SDF MLAs had won from two seats, they resigned from one seat each, reducing the party’s strength to 13 in the House. The SDF was an NDA ally, but now the SKM has replaced it as a member of the BJP-headed North East Democratic Alliance.
The MLAs who joined the BJP include Dorjee Tshering Lepcha, who has served as a Minister thrice in the Chamling government and is a five-term MLA, and three-term MLA Ugen Gyatso.
Lone ranger
The SDF tried to put up a brave front saying that people of Sikkim were not used to national parties and one had to wait and watch to see how far this “new experiment” went.
The SDF is now left with only one MLA —Mr. Chamling himself.
“We are certainly facing the most challenging times,” SDF spokesperson P.D. Rai told The Hindu.
(With inputs from Shiv Sahay Singh)
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