HSP hits out at Chamling for comments against Bhutia

The Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP) Tuesday condemned Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling for blaming footballer-turned politician Bhaichung Bhutia and other opposition parties for delay in reservation of Assembly seats to the tribal Limboo and Tamang communities in Sikkim.

"The HSP strongly condemns Chamling's statement in which where he has accused Bhaichung Bhutia and other opposition parties and groups for their role in delay in allocation of assembly seats for Limboo and Tamang communities," HSP spokesperson Biraj Adhikari said.

Bhaichung Bhutia and HSP, of which he is a working president, is only seven months old in Sikkims political landscape and as such has no role in delay in reservation of assembly seats for Limboo and Tamang communities or any other festering problem in the past, he said.

Charging the chief minister with seeking to deflect attention from his government's "failure" to deliver representation to Limboo and Tamang communities in the state legislature despite promising the same since the past 17 years, Adhikari asked Chamling to accept his own "failure" instead of passing the buck on his political opponents.

The HSP spokesperson reminded the chief minister of his assertion to "quit" from his post if he "failed" to get reservation of Assembly seats for Limboo and Tamang communities before the Assembly polls and asked him to resign for once to honour his own words.

The Centre had granted tribal status to Limboo and Tamang communities in 2002, but they have not been given representation in the state legislature as yet.

Chamling had recently blamed the opposition leaders for "feeding misinformation" to the Central government to derail the process underway for giving reservation in the state legislative Assembly to Limboo and Tamang communities.