THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
Gangtok, Nov 23: During an SDF program in South Sikkim’s Ravangla district on Thursday, former Indian football player and president of the Hamro Sikkim Party Bhaichung Bhutia joined and merged his party with the Pawan Chamling-led Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF).
Bhaichung Bhutia, who held the position of working president in the Hamro Sikkim Party, has been the prominent figurehead of the party since 2018. Despite an unsuccessful attempt in the 2019 elections, he remained a key figure in representing the party.
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In September this year, the iconic football player and politician Bhaichung Bhutia formally announced his decision to join the Sikkim Democratic Front party, which is led by former Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling.
When questioned why SDF and not another political party, Bhutia responded, “Following the exit of corrupt leaders, SDF has now cleansed itself of corruption. For a long time, SKM cried about Chamling being a corrupt leader, but it’s evident in these 4 years that SKM has not been able to file a single case against Chamling on corruption. Thus, ensuring that Chamling is free of corruption. Besides, in these 4 years as an opposition, perhaps SDF is the only party that has spoken for Sikkim, their call for Save Sikkim is evidence of the same. Bhaichung and SDF will be like Messi and Argentina to win the World Cup”.
During the previous election, Bhaichung Bhutia had thrown his support behind the incumbent Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, even holding discussions with the current Chief Minister, Prem Singh Golay, in the lead-up to the 2019 election.
Bhutia stated, “We were all in support of Parivartan’s promise made by Prem Singh Golay in 2019. We tactically fielded candidates where the SKM had weaker candidates in constituencies. We wanted the Parivartan as much as SKM did. However, in these 4 years, the Parivartan has failed under Golay and SKM. They are now full of corrupt leaders and businessmen who, in the past, ruined 25 years of work by the ruling SDF party”.
Following his retirement from football in 2014, Bhutia became a member of the All India Trinamool Congress and ran unsuccessfully for the Darjeeling constituency in the Indian general election of the same year.
He founded the “Hamro Sikkim Party” in Sikkim in 2018 following his split from the All India Trinamool Congress.
