KN Uperti has been declared as the MP candidate of Congress

Gangtok, Feb 27: Former minister KN Uperti has been declared as the MP candidate of Congress party for the lone Lok Sabha seat of Sikkim for the forthcoming General Elections.
Party in charge for Sikkim and AICC working committee member Luizinho Faleriaro said today in a press meet that Mr. Uperti’s name has been recommended as the Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee (SPCC)’s choice as the MP candidate.

Mr. Uperti’s endorsement is a mere formality as only his name has been recommended to the party high command.
It may be recalled that Local Media had reported yesterday that Mr. Uperti had been the most probable choice of Congress for the MP ticket.

Congress has also decided to retain Acharya Tshering Lama as the party’s candidate for the Sangha seat for the upcoming Sikkim Assembly elections.
“SPCC is in the process of selecting candidates for the remaining 31 Assembly seats. Weight age will be given to educated, dynamic and local youths for the tickets”, said Mr. Faleriaro.

Recently given charge of Congress units of Sikkim, Meghalaya and Mizoram, Mr. Faleriaro who is the former Chief Minister of Goa had arrived yesterday in Gangtok to oversee the SPCC’s preparations for the forthcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. He was accompanied by AICC secretary Major Ved Prakash.
Mr. Faleriaro said that the candidates will be declared soon in the first week of March.

SPCC president Nar Bahadur Bhandari added that the party will give tickets to candidates who are from that particular constituency which they will contest as part of its ‘sons of soil’ policy. “We will follow the policy of Samisti Putra”, he said.

The SPCC president will be reaching Delhi on March 3 with the final list of the candidates and the decision will be taken the next day. We will contest on all the 32 seats, he said.
Expressing his confidence that Congress will form governments both at the Centre and Sikkim, Mr. Faleriaro promised that the party will deliver ‘income tax exemption to all Sikkimese people’.

“Presently the exemption from paying income taxes is going to only 30 percent of people in Sikkim. We will like to get the balance of the population to get similar relief. Others non-exempted should also get same benefits”, said Mr. Faleriaro.

“I am taking this issue with the party high command and Union Ministry of Finance”, said Mr. Faleriaro. His assurances over Income Tax issue sets the tone on which the party will campaign in the forthcoming elections.
One of the major reasons for the optimism shown by the Congress leader to stake claim here was the special attention given by the Congress led UPA government to Sikkim in the past five years. “Sikkim has been in the heart of Congress party”, he said.

Mr. Faleriaro said that UPA government has sanctioned more than Rs. 2000 crores for the infrastructural development of Sikkim in the last 3 months. The UPA has sanctioned Rs. 336 crores for the Pakyong airport, over Rs. 410 crores for roads and more than Rs. 1400 crores for rail links, he said. A lot of money has been given for Sikkim in the past five years for the development and empowerment of the Sikkimese people by UPA government, he said.

“We appeal the Sikkimese people to vote for Congress because the party will form the government in the Centre this time also and the party has very close ties with Sikkimese people”, said Mr. Faleriaro.