Ganesh Rai Vice president SDF, Sonam Gyatso Lepcha former Deputy Speaker, Dawcho Lepcha Former Minister and 39 others resigned from Sikkim Democratic Front.
“I have officially resigned from all responsibilities entrusted upon me by the SDF party and from the primary membership of the party on 24 January 2022. I am not alone in the feeling of urgency for reform within the party and the party’s leadership adamance and indifference to reform the party. ” Ganesh Rai
“After SDF lost in 2019 elections and the by elections, I remained steadfast in my support for the party. However, in sharp contrast to the claim made by the party president in playing the role of a strong opposition party the SDF party only got weaker and weaker, with all our MLA switching to other parties that are BJP and SKM while our party president looked on helplessly.”
“The helplessness of the party was such that when SDF supporters were targeted by SKM, SDF party remained a mute spectator. SDF supporters then started talking resort in BJP by joining BJP party across Sikkim. It was a moment of helplessness and realization for me and many supporters of SDF. Our demands for reform in the party to make it a strong opposition were not only turn down, but we were called as rebels and selfish.”
“I can no longer remain at a party that treats its committed supporters as rebels when suggestions for reforms are placed, and at a party that cannot speak up in defence of its own supporters. The party has ossified beyond reform. I stress that I am not alone in feeling so. There are hundreds of senior leaders in SDF who feel likewise, and hundreds of young SDF supporters who feel so. Many like-minded people from different political organization will follow this suit in days to come.”
Furthermore, Rai also announced that within 2022 a new political party will be formed in Sikkim with new ideology and will bring about reforms in the politics of Sikkim, “Sikkim will mark it’s 50 years of Democracy by 2024. However, the politics in Sikkim has been undemocratic so far just for suppression of the opposition parties in the state which is undemocratic. In democracy all the political parties should be allowed to exist and this is one of the place the politics of Sikkim lacks, with our new soon to be formed party we will create a healthy environment with new reforms in democracy of Sikkim”
On asking Rai about the entry of CBI in Sikkim he said, “The state government are responsible for the entry of CBI in Sikkim and if it’s necessary to bring CBI in Sikkim then they can go ahead but if they are only for the sake of entertainment and for political propaganda then it becomes irrational of them to do so”
Ganesh Rai has been part of SDF since his youth days, at the age of 22 he became panchayat member of Melli constituency under the SDF party and at the end of his first tenure he was also awarded with Panchayat Shree Award while he was 26 years old and likewise in the year 2007 he was re-elected as panchayat president from the SDF party. Further, Rai was also nominated as Chairperson of Sikkim State Cooperative Union.
Ganesh Rai is also husband of Tulsi Devi Rai, who served as minister during the SDF government. While responding to the question of the media on her resignation from the SDF Party, Rai said that Tulsi Devi Rai has not renewed her membership of SDF since 3 years and as per the constitution of the SDF party the membership automatically gets invalid if one doesn’t renew their membership for two consecutive years, thus she is no more the member of the Sikkim Democratic Front.
After quiting SDF officially today, Ganesh Rai also announced the formation of a new political front by 2022.