Bharat Basnett quits as State Congress president

ISABELLA GURUNG
GANGTOK: Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee (SPCC) president Bharat Basnett has resigned from his post. Announcing his resignation as the State Congress chief, Basnett today told a news conference that he has sent his resignation to the AICC president Sonia Gandhi and other leaders of the Congress high command in Delhi.
Highlighting the reasons for his resignation, the senior Congressman expressed that the Central party always underestimated local units and didn’t respect the sentiments of the local people. Citing the recent appointment of Kuljit Singh Nagra as the party’s in-charge for Sikkim, Basnett said it was done without consultation with the SPCC even once. “The State committee has always been suffering due to such decisions of the Central committee. We are not satisfied with the decision of the party as such decision hurts our self-respect,” he added.
Appointed the State Congress president for the first time in October 2015, Basnett was serving in the post for the second consecutive term. Earlier, he had served as the State Youth Congress president from 1994 to 1997 and later served in other posts and has been associated with the grand old party for around three decades.Basnett also contested three Assembly elections and one LokSabha election from the Congress party ticket in Sikkim.
Expressing concern on recent issues of the State, Basnettmentioned that five persons lost their lives in just 10 days, last month, due to carelessness in the hospitals and no action has been taken by the government yet. He further added that no compensation has been provided to family members of any of the deceased. Recalling how many local lawyers had openly supported the ruling SKM party in the last election, Basnett alleged that instead of appointing any local advocate, the State government appointed Sudesh Joshi as the Additional Advocate General.