BJP candidate Dorjee Tshering Lepcha was elected uncontested to the Rajya Sabha on Friday with support from the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), but the Sikkim state BJP president came down sharply on its ally SKM, saying it “had not fulfilled many of its election promises".

Lepcha was elected to fill the lone Sikkim seat in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. Lalit Kumar Gurung, the returning officer of the election, handed him the certificate of the election.

However, D.R. Thapa, the Sikkim BJP president, while speaking to The Telegraph on Friday, did not mince words about the performance of its ally SKM.

“The SKM government has not been able to fulfill many of its election promises on issues like (stemming) unemployment, corruption, granting the LT (Limbu/Tamang) seat reservation, getting tribal status and so on,” said Thapa.

Asked if he was being critical of the SKM, which supported the BJP’s candidate on the very day Lepcha was elected, Thapa said: “A fact remains a fact. Also, the (general) development (of the state) has not occurred as desired in the last four years."

In the 2019 Sikkim Assembly election, the BJP had drawn a blank. However, the BJP now has 12 members. This was after 10 Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) MLAs, including Lepcha, joined the BJP soon after the elections.

In the subsequent bypolls, the BJP won two more seats with support from the SKM to take its tally to 12. The ruling SKM has 19 members in the 32-member Sikkim Assembly. The SDF now has a lone MLA in its party president and former Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling.

The BJP Sikkim president also did not commit to whether his party would go for an alliance with SKM in elections of the near future. However, many believe that the present alliance will remain together for the upcoming Assembly election. “It is too premature to talk on this issue,” said Thapa.

However, Thapa added: “The BJP has the ability to rule the world, why just Sikkim. People in Sikkim are bestowing faith in the BJP as they believe this is the only party that can deliver."

The Sikkim Assembly elections, to be held along with Lok Sabha polls, are expected to be a closely contested fight.

Jacob Khaling, political secretary to Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) and the spokesperson of the SKM could not be immediately contacted for his comments by this newspaper.