Sikkim Democratic Front sacks ex-MP & Anna sympathiser

Gangtok, Aug. 28: Former Sikkim Democratic Front MP Nakul Das Rai and a youth leader who was on fast in Gangtok to show solidarity with Anna Hazare have been expelled from the party for unspecified reasons.

The chief minister and SDF president, Pawan Chamling, expelled 15 other members also from the party late on Friday. He did not cite any reason for the expulsion.

“The SDF president, Pawan Chamling, has used the provisions in the party constitution to expel these members,” said a statement from the party.

However, none of those ousted has been sent any official communication from the SDF as yet.

While eight of the sacked members are panchayat members, seven others held various posts at local levels.

The 51-year-old Rai is a founder-member of the SDF and was considered to be a heavyweight in the party. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 on SDF ticket.

“Chamling has expelled me without any probe and has acted merely on flimsy complaints lodged with him by the sycophants in the party. It is not that I have been ousted after I was found guilty of any wrongdoing. I had been contemplating resigning from the SDF as I am engaged in other activities. I have struggled a lot to ensure that Chamling came to power and everyone knows that. I will soon elaborate on all these matters,” said Rai.

The ex-MP also said he had been instrumental in forming the SDF and he would lay bare Chamling’s attitude towards old party soldiers.

The other prominent leader to be shown the door was Yong Tshering Lepcha, who had started a fast on August 20 to synchronise with Anna Hazare’s hunger strike at the Ramlila grounds in New Delhi. Lepcha, 44, had been admitted to the STNM Hospital since August 24 and had been on drips since then.

A vegetable farmer from Nimtar in East Sikkim and the convener of the Youth Front of SDF in the district, Lepcha said: “If today is the happiest day in my life to see that my support for Anna Chacha has not gone in vain, yesterday was the saddest day when I came to know about my expulsion. I do not know whether I was ousted because of my support for Anna Hazare. I had sat on a hunger strike so that there is support to the national campaign against corruption from Sikkim also. I have not indulged in any anti-party activities by going on fast.”

Lepcha was a supervisor in the state power department and left the job in 2006 to devote full time to the SDF.

He broke his fast today.

Source: The Telegraph