Former chief minister and Sikkim Democratic Front president Pawan Chamling on Monday asked the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha to come out with its formula to meet the long-pending demand of Limboo and Tamang (LT) communities for reservation of seats in the Assembly.

Chamling said the previous SDF government had at least charted a formula to provide quota in the Assembly to the Limboos and Tamangs unlike the present SKM dispensation.

“The Centre didn’t agree with our formula because it was the SKM which had opposed it while in the opposition. Now, it can’t demand res¬olution on the basis of our formula, and does not have a formula of its own. Where are the LT seats the SKM had promised to deliver within 10 days of coming to power?” he asked.

The Limboos and Tamangs were given Scheduled Tribe status in 2003, but are yet to be granted reservation of seats in the Assembly as mandated by Article 332 of the Constitution.

An organisation of the two communities had approached the Supreme Court in January 2019 seeking reservation, but the matter is yet to be decided.

The 32member Sikkim Assembly has 12 seats reserved for the Bhutias and Lepchas, two for the Scheduled Castes and one for the sangha, which is a body of monks. The SDF wants the strength of the Assembly to be increased to 40 and reserve five seats for the Limboos and Tamangs.

The former chief minister also wondered where the 30,000 new jobs that the SKM had promised to deliver within 100 days of coming to power were and if regularisation of ad hoc jobs within the same time frame had happened. “What about getting CBI into Sikkim?” he asked, citing a number of other prepoll promises of the SKM that were yet to see the light of the day.

Chamling also raised numerous queries on the state government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and demanded that the salaries of frontline workers be doubled and all Covid19 warriors be provided with insurance coverage.

He was speaking to reporters on the occasion of Sampoorna Kranti Diwas here.

The SDF did not publicly observe Sampoorna Kranti Diwas, which marks the day when party supporters were assaulted by police in 1992, because of Covid19. The party, however, announced the launch of two programmes on its Facebook page: a newsbased weekly programme to be aired at 7am on Mondays and a monthly programme to discuss current issues.