SKM parts ways with BJP in Sikkim

The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) on Friday called off its nascent alliance with the BJP and decided to contest all assembly seats and the lone Lok Sabha seat in Sikkim.

"The SKM will field candidates on all 32 assembly seats and lone Lok Sabha seat in Sikkim," the SKM spokesperson Sonam Bhutia said.

He said that the decision to go solo in the assembly and parliamentary polls on Sikkim was taken at the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) executive committee at Jorethang in South Sikkim which was presided over by the SKM Prem Singh Tamang, popularly known as P S Golay.

Bhutia said that the the alliance with the BJP has been called off after the meeting with its leader did not turn out to be fruitful.

The SKM spokesperson did not explain any further about the stumbling block which torpedoed the alliance with the BJP.

Bhutia said that the SKM will announce its candidates on 32 assembly seats and the lone Lok Sabha seat in Sikkim on March 20 next.

The BJP had gone public with its alliance with Sikkim last week, but the SKM had stopped short of confirming it by saying that the alliance will be forged between the two parties subject to agreement over the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

The CMP has come unstuck between the the SKM and BJP as of now, according to BJP sources.