GANGTOK: Former Indian footballer and Hamro Sikkim Party president Bhaichung Bhutia on Thursday merged his party with the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) party and joined the Pawan Chamling-led party during an SDF programme at South Sikkim's Ravangla district.
Bhaichung, who was serving as the working president of the Hamro Sikkim Party, has served as the face of the party since 2018, unsuccessfully contesting the 2019 elections. In September of this year, football legend and politician Bhaichung Bhutia made a formal announcement about his joining the Sikkim Democratic Front party led by former Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling.
On being asked why SDF and not any other political party, Bhutia said, "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 party, 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". At the previous election, Bhaichung had supported the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha and even held a meeting with current Chief Minister Prem Singh Golay in the run-up to the 2019 election.
Bhutia claimed, "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". In 2014, after his retirement from football, Bhutia joined the All India Trinamool Congress and unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Indian general election from the Darjeeling constituency. In 2018, after the breakup with the All India Trinamool Congress, he established a new party in Sikkim called the "Hamro Sikkim Party". (ANI)
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