Kalimpong, May 23: GNLF leader and Kalimpong municipality chairman C.K. Kumai has fought off the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s calls for his resignation from the civic post and criticised the party for threatening him with “social boycott”.

Kumai, a lawyer, said the threat was “illegal, unconstitutional, unethical, immoral and directly against the principles of good conscience, equity and natural justice”.

The threat had come from Kalyan Dewan, the Kalimpong unit president of the Morcha. In a recent interview to a local TV channel, Dewan had said Kumai should either resign or face social boycott, by which he meant no one would be allowed to visit the civic chief at his residence, nor would he be permitted to visit other homes or even go to hotels.

“The flow of my clients has come down drastically since the telecast of Dewan’s statement for which he personally and the Morcha collectively will be held responsible,” said Kumai, who has lodged a police complaint against Dewan for his “provocative remarks”.

The GNLF leader said he would not resign from his post under duress. “The Morcha made a mistake by tabling a no-confidence vote against my board in January, which was duly defeated. Now, according to the rule, another no-trust motion can only be held after six months,” Kumai said.

Dewan said Kumai had taken his statement “out of context”. “What I meant was people could be compelled to ignore him completely because their lives are being affected by his obstinacy. The civic board meeting has not been held in four months and all development work has been stopped. The honourable thing for him to do is to resign,” Dewan said.