SDF denies BJP's 'betrayal' charges

The SDF has refuted BJP's charge that its last-minute refusal for a pre-poll alliance with the party was an "act of betrayal".

The Sikkim Democratic Front has refuted BJP's charge that its last-minute refusal for a pre-poll alliance with the party was an "act of betrayal" and an "insult" to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

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Terming the allegation "unfounded", SDF's lone member of the upper House from Sikkim PT Gyamtso, who is also the party's spokesman, said that there was no question of a betrayal as the SDF never promised an electoral alliance with the BJP in Sikkim.

There was of course a proposal from the BJP for a tie-up with the SDF in view of the coming assembly polls in the state but it was turned down by the SDF's political affairs committee which decided that it would be risky to go along with a party which did not have much of a support base in the state, Gyamtso said.

There is no question of a last-minute betrayal as SDF's political affairs committee had made it clear last month itself, just a couple of days after the proposal came from the BJP, that it would go it alone.

On the charge that it was an insult to the Prime Minister, the SDF spokesman said the party held Vajpayee in high esteem and its support to the BJP-led government at the Centre remained intact.

The local unit BJP chief HR Pradhan had alleged that the SDF had betrayed the party and insulted Vajpayee by refusing an alliance with it in Sikkim.