Row over seat reservation

Statesman News Service
GANGTOK, Feb. 24: Sikkim Himali Rajya Parishad (SHRP), the lone strong Opposition party of the state lambasted ruling government and accused them of eye-washing the Limboo and Tamang community in the matter of seat reservation today.
However, SHRP strongly feels that the ruling government is trying to divert their attention from the serious issues faced by the Sikkimese people regarding the seat reservation of Limboo and Tamang community, alleged Mr Biraj Adhikari, spokes person. SHRP. “The ruling government has no fixed policy on the said issue” Mr Adhikari said.
While accusing the ruling government he also said that the government had to clear the air by immediately informing the people of Sikkim about what they were going to do with the issue within a month otherwise they would go to the public and expose the lies spread by them. “They always gave verbal assurance but we want the same assurance in Sikkim Legislative Assembly (SLA) with written documents,” Mr. Adhikari said.
The SHRP alleged that since 2003, when Limboo and Tamang got their seat reservation the ruling government has only given verbal assurance and continues to do so even after the President Mrs Pratibha Patil has signed the Delimitation Bill.
While retaliating to the allegation made by Opposition party, Mr BB Goorong advisor to the state chief minister, said that the issue raised by the opposition parties wassimply a political gimmick. “They should clearly understand that the delimitation process and the Limboo-Tamang seat reservation are two different subjects and have nothing to do with each other,” Mr Goorong said.
He also slammed the opposition parties and questioned them as to why they failed to raise their voices when the Delimitation Commission headed by Justice Kuldeep Singh organised a public meeting at Chintan Bhawan in 2005. In a reply to Mr Goorong’s allegation, Mr Tara Shresta,general secretary, SHRP said that no one was allowed to raise the Limboo-Tamang seat reservation issue and even the press was not allowed during the all party meeting with the Delimitation Commission. “Interestingly Mr Gooroong was not present in the meeting so how could he say that the Opposition party had to raise such issues” Mr Shresta said.
The issues augmented in the state after police found some posters on the walls of NH 31A and West districts few days ago. The posters speak about the political rights of Limboo and Tamang community and about their seat reservation, which was written by anonymous “Krantikari Limboo Yuva”. The posters were also found on the doors of MLAs belonging to Limboo-Tamang community, which led to chaos in the state. There have been no arrests till now but the ruling government has directly blamed the oppositions parties.