Gangtok: Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Golay has challenged former Health Minister MK Sharma to resign as a legislator from the Singtam Khamdong constituency.
Sharma, who is the current sitting MLA from the constituency, resigned as the Health Minister on February 2 due to the “immigrant row.”
During the Vijay Diwas event organized by the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha party on February 20, CM Golay criticized Sharma, accusing him of attempting to become the next Chief Minister by lobbying for the post in Delhi since his resignation.
Addressing the gathering at Sharma’s home constituency Singtam town, which hosted a grand celebration for the ‘successful removal of immigrant tag’, CM Golay addressed the gathering and challenged Sharma, saying, “If he thinks he has the potential to become the next Chief Minister, then he must resign as a legislator of SKM first. I challenge him to contest independently or through any other political party. If there were a by-election to take place, I would field a young candidate who would defeat Sharma. It would prove whether the vote would go to an individual or the party.”
Golay criticized former Health Minister MK Sharma and highlighted his past actions. He said, “People in Singtam know how their candidate abandoned them after the 2014 elections. He went back to being a doctor after his defeat. But seeing the electoral opportunity once again in 2019, he came back as a politician. In the intervening years, he had never come for any party meeting, he didn’t even come when I was sentenced to prison in 2017.”
Furthermore, Golay alleged that Sharma saw the 2019 elections as an opportunity to become the Chief Minister. Golay stated, “He wanted to capitalize on my disqualification from contesting elections, when I was in doubt in 2019 elections. He saw an opportunity, seeing the two other SKM legislators Kunga Nima Lepcha as old and Sonam Lama as illiterate, to capitalize on his chances of becoming the Chief Minister. He held pride in being a doctor and looked down upon other SKM candidates.”
The Chief Minister also brought up an incident from 2020 when MK Sharma allegedly tried to lure fellow legislator Bishnu Kumar Khatiwara to leave the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) party and join him. Golay stated, “It was the honesty of Bishnu Sir that he came to me first with reports of MK Sharma trying to offer him money to go against me and SKM. Yet, after knowing this incident, I had forgiven him. We didn’t take any action against him fearing what might fall upon the public of Singtam Khamdong constituency.”
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Following these allegations, Golay declared that he would be taking direct responsibility for the Singtam Khamdong constituency in the absence of their legislator Sharma. He further announced that the SKM party would be initiating its electoral campaign from Singtam Khamdong constituency.
Additionally, the Chief Minister announced that February 8th of every year would be celebrated as a day of victory against the immigrant tag on the Sikkimese Nepali community. He urged students and the public to come up with a suitable name for the day, which he said would be celebrated on par with Nepali Bhasa Manyata Diwas that falls on August 20th every year.
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