SKM legislators denounce Chamling’s ‘anti-national’ remark

GANGTOK:  The beginning of the third day of the Legislative Assembly session witnessed uproar from the opposition Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, with its MLAs protesting against Chief Minister Pawan Chamling, the House leader, for calling the party ‘anti-national’. SKM MLAs gathered in front of the chair of Speaker KN Rai and demanded Chamling take back his remark. As soon as Rai started the day’s session, SKM MLA Timothy William Basnett stood up and voiced his angst against the remark and demanded a clarification. Following Basnett, SKM president PS Golay along with his remaining eight MLAs also joined in. Meanwhile, SDF MLAs also stood up and entered into a verbal spat with their rivals. The disruption lasted about 10 minutes and normalcy was restored only after the Speaker assured to investigate the matter. Notably during the second day of the assembly session, the chief minister had called the SKM ‘anti-national’ while reacting to a question by SKM’s Sonam Kalyan on a matter related to Article 371f of the Constitution.