BJP forges alliance with opposition SKM for Sikkim polls

Press Trust of India  |  Gangtok 

The BJP Friday forged an alliance with opposition Krantikari Morcha (SKM) to contest the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state.

SKM P S and BJP's North-East in-charge finalised the alliance in New Delhi, he said.

"The two parties have decided to form an alliance for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Sikkim," Nabin, who was present during the meeting between and Madhav, said over phone from

In an identical post on and Twitter, Madhav announced that the two parties joined hands for the polls and described the SKM as the "main opposition party" in

Elections will be held simultaneously for the 32-member Assembly and the lone Lok Sabha seat in Sikkim later this year.

In the 2014 Assembly election, the SKM had won 10 seats but now it has only two MLAs in the House.

Seven of the MLAs had defected to the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) in 2015, while was disqualified from the membership of the Assembly in 2016, following his conviction for a year in a corruption case.

The ruling SDF did not want to comment on the SKM-BJP alliance.

"We have nothing to say on this issue as of now," SKM K T Gyaltsen said.

On the SDF's status in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Gyaltsen said his party continues to be a part of the coalition at the national level.

The BJP's Sikkim in-charge, however, denied this.

"No...the SDF is not part of the NDA," Nabin said.

The SDF, led by the country's longest serving Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, has 29 MLAs in the Assembly.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, March 08 2019. 17:05 IST