Former chief minister and Sikkim Democratic Front president Pawan Chamling on Sunday said his party had heeded the message from the loss of the 2019 Assembly elections and pledged to reorient and make it more youth-centric come 2024 when the Himalayan state goes to the polls.

Chamling said the SDF loss in the 2019 was a much needed break during which the party got a chance to introspect and filter. “Without this break, the SDF would never have got a chance to filter out the political brokers. The vacuum created by them has been filled by youth who want value-based and issue-based politics,” he said in his weekly musings.

In his no holes barred comment, Chamling said the “break” from governance has given his party an opportunity to introspect and remove the chaff from the wheat. “SDF is going through a historic filtration process. The chaff has been removed, leaving wheat in the party… We are churning the poison out of the party. A big and old party like ours needed to do this. This has been a painful but most needed process. The SDF is coming back in a new avatar,” he said.

SDF under the leadership of Chamling had held the reins of power for 25 years from 1994 to 2019 before suffering a shock loss against Sikkim Krantikari Morcha headed by current chief minister P. S. Tamang (Golay) in 2019.

Expanding on his theme of youth-centric politics, Chamling said the “break” from governance allowed his party to connect with the new generation.”

“I must admit that a 30-year-old party can easily develop a disconnenct with the newer generations. But during the break, the new generation has begun to interact with us and are joining us. Also, older personally-interested leaders leaving (the party) has created an adequate vacuum for newer and younger members to join the party meaningfully and proactively,” he said