Sikkim TMC party heads quit over atrocities in hills

DARJEELING: Two top Trinamool Congress leaders of Sikkim quit the party on Wednesday to protest alleged police atrocities on protesters leading a statehood agitation in West Bengal’s hill districts, including the popular tourist destination of Darjeeling.

Trinamool’s Sikkim unit president PT Lucksom, also a former deputy chief minister, and state general secretary Tshering Wangchuk Lepcha sent their resignations to party Rajya Sabha MP Derek O Brien and Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, sources said.

Their resignation letters were sent via the instant messaging app WhatsApp. Sikkim, a small state bordering Nepal and Bhutan, has a sizeable Nepali-speaking population ethnically related to Darjeeling’s majority community.

CENTRE USING US AS PAWNS: GJM LEADER

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) on Monday expressed its “displeasure” with the Centre and questioned the absence of Darjeeling BJP MP SS Ahluwalia at the time of crisis.

“The role of alliance partner the BJP is very unfortunate and very disappointing. We had expected something positive from the Central government.

“We feel that we are being used as pawns by the Centre and the state,” Darjeeling MLA and senior GJM leader Amar Singh Rai said. Meanwhile, CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday appealed people to maintain peace instead of “playing with fire”.