Gangtok, March 8: Palden Bhutia, zilla up-adakshya of North District, (panchayat vice- president, north), has resigned from the primary membership of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF).

Bhutia cited dissatisfaction with the SDF for deviating from its political and social commitments, as the reason for his resignation.

Bhutia, also known as Pendey Bhutia in the area, is the second SDF member to have resigned from the primary membership of the party this week. Earlier, SDF legislator of the dissolved Assembly and MLA from Assam Lingzey, Tseten Tashi Bhutia, quit the party.

The zilla panchayat vice-president, who is likely to join the Congress, stated that the SDF maintained double standards and raised false slogans of being a party for the poor and downtrodden. He also accused the party of making empty promises of maintaining communal harmony in the state.

Bhutia said the party had not only split the Bhutia and Lepcha communities in Sikkim but was also largely responsible for dividing the Nepali community. He added that the promises made during the last Assembly poll have not yet been fulfilled. “The party had promised to give every poor person Rs 1 lakh and 50 GI sheets under the rural housing scheme. But they have managed to give only Rs 10,000 and that too in instalments,” he said.