Golay campaigns for six constituencies with Singtam Jan Sabha, says ‘Table Lamp’ everywhere in Sikkim

ISABELLA GURUNG

SINGTAM,: Chief Minister and SKM president PS Golay on Saturday held a SKM ‘Vijayee Bhava: Jan Sabha’ election campaign at Singtam bazaar covering Khamdong-Singtam, Martam-Rumtek, Tumin-Lingee, Kabi-Lungchok, Temi-Namphing and West Pendam constituencies.

The public meeting was attended by SKM Lok Sabha candidate Indra Hang Subba, candidates of the six constituencies, party functionaries and supporters.

Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister reiterated his confidence that the SKM is on course for a complete sweep of all the 32 Assembly constituencies and the lone Lok Sabha seat in this 2024 election. He added that the SKM is sincere towards resolving the demands of Limboo-Tamang Assembly seats and tribal status for the 12 left-out communities of Sikkim in the coming government.

“The Vijayee Bhava campaign, which started from Soreng-Chakung on April 5, has covered almost all districts of Sikkim and will officially conclude at Jorethang on April 15. At Jorethang, the electoral manifesto of the SKM party will be discussed and I would request everyone to attend it, as this election decides what type of government you want in Sikkim from 2024-2029. It is a 32/32 win for SKM, as we can see SKM, Golay’s Lahar and the Table Lamp symbol everywhere,” expressed Golay.

Speaking on Singtam, the SKM president shared that Singtam bazaar is a historic platform for him as it was here where he made his first public address after being released from jail on August 10, 2018 before a massive gathering. He thanked the people of Singtam for their constant support to the SKM party, and urged them to strongly back party candidate NB Dahal.

“Singtam-Khamdong candidate NB Dahal may be new to your constituency, but the SKM party decided to give him the ticket this time keeping in mind the people of Sikkim as he is a deserving candidate and I want you to support him by voting for Dahal,” Golay appealed.

SDF Singtam-Khamdong candidate Dr. MK Sharma came under strong criticism from Golay.

Dr. Sharma had won from Singtam-Khamdong in the 2019 election on a SKM ticket. He was given a minister’s post in the State cabinet but later resigned as the minister following the outrage over ‘immigrant’ tag on Sikkimese Nepali in 2023. He then quit SKM and is now seeking a re-election from Singtam-Khamdong as the SDF candidate.

The SKM president maintained that Dr. Sharma, while as a Health minister, plotted and tried to weaken the SKM government and eventually, ran away. “I had forgiven him and did not even remove him from his post as a minister because I was thinking about the Singtam-Khamdong janta, but all he did was to incite our MLAs and people against us. He tried to provoke the janta against us by bringing up the issue of immigration tag on Sikkimese Nepalis. At a time when SDF couldn’t remove this objectionable tag in 25 years of government, SKM government was successful in removing the tag in 27 days,” he said.

The Singtam-Khamdong janta has seen a lot, and so it was important to bring NB Dahal as their candidate, said Golay.

The SKM president alleged that the SDF, during its 25 years in power, misused Sikkim as an ‘ATM’ for the benefit of the party and family members of party president Pawan Chamling. All the SDF is doing now is making insane promises like holidays on birthdays of government employees and spreading violence and propaganda, when they have already lost the match, he said.

Golay further highlighted the different schemes and development projects of the SKM government during their five-year tenure.

In his address, SKM Lok Sabha candidate Indra Hang Subba stated that due to the development works and different schemes of the SKM government, the people of Sikkim have already decided to vote for the SKM. He alleged that SDF candidate PD Rai, in spite of being an MP for 10 years in the past, never spoke on behalf of Sikkim in the Parliament.

Indra Hang is also the sitting Lok Sabha MP from Sikkim.

“The first term, I may have been inexperienced and had to learn a lot but despite this, at the Parliament, I have constantly spoken about different demands of Sikkim during my term. There are 14 MP candidates this time, and they should understand that speaking in the Parliament is not like speaking in Facebook Live, it needs experience and rules need to be followed. I am experienced now and if I am elected MP, I will strongly take up the issues and demands of Sikkim in the Parliament from Day 1,” said Indra Hang.