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Former football captain Bhaichung Bhutia launches ‘Hamro Sikkim Party’
Bhaichung Bhutia, who was earlier with the Trinamool Congress, said he felt like an outsider in Trinamool Congress and will now “return to his roots”.
Former Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia on Thursday launched his political party “Hamro Sikkim” in New Delhi. He said he “felt like an outsider” in the Trinamool Congress. The party will be based in his native state Sikkim.
Bhutia said that even after being part of West Bengal politics and playing for top Bengal clubs for years, he could not get rid of the “outsider” tag and now he had returned to his roots.
“I was dropped from the top in the TMC. Let’s not forget that when I contested from Siliguri, there was an outsider tag on me as well.
“Now, I am going back. My family, my house, all are in Sikkim. I am the son of the soil. I think I can contribute much more here,” Bhutia added.
Soon after his defeat in the West Bengal assembly elections of 2016, difference of opinions cropped up between the TMC and Bhutia as he did not support the party’s stand on the Gorkhaland issue.
“There were one or two major issues regarding Gorkhaland I did not agree to. I did not support the TMC’s stand on the issue,” he said.
Bhutia said his party would try to rise above the petty politics of caste and religion, and make the state graft free as it had become a safe haven for corrupt people under the present state government.
