I am not at all surprised that there is a rift between the Dalai Lama and Lobsang Sangay.
1. Lobsang Sangay wants to be in control and yet try as he might he cannot escape living in the Dalai Lama's shadows. We know Sangay is a very corrupt, ambitious and political-minded person in the way he appoints his cronies instead of qualified people to key positions and we have seen how he dealt with Penpa Tsering and even changed election bylaws to disqualify Lukar Jam,
2. We know that Sangay is persona non grata to China and therefore is useless in any dialogue with China. Hence the Dalai Lama sent Samdhong Rinpoche instead when the Dalai Lama wanted to open dialogue with China earlier this year. Lobsang Sangay was sidelined. So Sangay is merely a token of the Dalai Lama's 'democracy' claim. Real power is still with the Dalai Lama and Sangay cannot be happy with that,
3. We have also seen how Sangay sabotages the Dalai Lama's efforts to reconcile with China. DS.com covered it in a story and here is an excerpt:
The SabotageA number of incidences bear testimony to this. For instance, in July 2017 amid a tense standoff between India and China, the President of the CTA Lobsang Sangay decided it was an opportune time to assert Tibetan independence, and to raise the Tibetan flag at Pangong Tso (Pangong Lake), which lies between India and China. Sangay’s taunt of China was all the more provocative given it was done within eyeshot of Tibet. That injudicious act infuriated China, a result at odds with India’s seeking of a peaceful solution to its border woes. To redress the injury, the Indian Foreign Secretary subsequently instructed all Indian government officials to refrain from participating in Tibetan events organized to mark the 60th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s exile in India. In essence, the CTA significantly diminished almost 60 years of goodwill the Dalai Lama had built with the CTA’s generous host.
More recently, the Dalai Lama’s efforts to close the gap between Dharamsala and Beijing with accord on spiritual matters has been brazenly thwarted by his own Tibetan government-in-exile. In April 2018, the Dalai Lama acknowledged that the China-enthroned Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu is in fact the “official Panchen Lama”, a statement that effectively endorses China’s legitimacy in recognizing and enthroning high lamas. This represents a complete reversal of the Tibetan leadership’s past stance, which asserted that Gyancain Norbu is merely a political stooge and a false incarnation of the popular 10th Panchen Lama. Given the importance of the Panchen Lama, deemed to be the highest-ranking Tibetan lama in China, the Dalai Lama’s acceptance of the Chinese Panchen Lama was clearly designed to thaw relations with Beijing and draw parties back to the negotiation table. The head of the CTA, Lobsang Sangay was with the Dalai Lama when his proclamation on Gyancain Norbu was made and so there cannot have been a miscommunication.
Nevertheless, just two days later, the CTA saw it fit to publish on its official website an article critical of the Chinese Panchen Lama and demanded the release of their authorized Panchen Lama candidate, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima whom they claim had been kidnapped by China in 1995. To ensure that their point was not lost, another two stories were published on the CTA website in May 2018, both critical of the Chinese Panchen Lama. In essence, these stories demolished whatever foundations of friendship the Dalai Lama was constructing with Beijing.http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/features/the-dalai-lama-and-his-government-catch-22-tibet/4. In the final analysis, the Dalai Lama and Sangay have different objectives now. The Dalai Lama clearly wishes to return to Tibet. This may be a personal desire or it may be the Dalai Lama realising that its better to finally bring peace to his people after decades of struggle. Sangay on the other hand will be reduced to nothing if the Tibetan people really do return to China. The CTA which is Sangay's 'empire' will have to be dismantled and its unlikely Sangay will have any real power in China-controlled Tibet. CTA in exile on the other hand makes Sangay somewhat of a celebrity and he exercises power without any accountability. Without an ongoing Tibetan struggle, Sangay is nothing but an assistant researcher in an American university. So why would he want for the Tibetan struggle to end?
The Tibetan leadership is splintered in so many ways with factions like Penpa Tsering's camp versus Sangay's camp. And now we are seeing another split. How is the Tibetan dream ever going to be accomplished?