Sikkim CM set to complete 20 yrs in office

Gangtok, December 7

Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling, who is serving his fifth consecutive term, is set to complete 20 years in office next week and may break the 23-year-old record of Jyoti Basu if he completes his present tenure in 2019.

Chamling (64) first assumed office on December 12 in 1994 when his Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) won the Assembly elections.

He won a fifth consecutive time in the state assembly elections held in May 2014.

Chamling is currently the longest serving Chief Minister in the country. Basu was the Chief Minister of West Bengal from June 21, 1977 to November 6, 2000.

During Chamling’s tenure, the Sikkim Government has started various flagship programmes for making the tiny hill state a model state in the country, an official release said.

Sikkim has become the leading state of producing organic fruits and vegetables with a total 58,168 hectare of land under organic cultivation. — PTI