Cong springs surprise in Arunachal : 37-yr old Pema Khandu set to become CM
16 July, Itanagar
Playing a shrewd pragmatic politics, Congress today sprang a surprise in Arunachal Pradesh with swift resignation of state Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, paving way for anointment of a 37-year old Pema Khandu who has staked claim to form the new party led government. Khandu met the acting governor Tathagata Roy and staked claim to form the government flagging that he has support of 45 Congress MLAs and two independents in 60 members house that presently has effective strength of 58..
The deft move left the party’s opponents dumbfounded as speculations were rife that the ruling dispensation would be the same as it was before the historic Apex court ruling. A beaming Khandu minced no words to assert that they have majority and he would form the next government.
The political uncertainty which was palpable in the state’s environs dissipated fast with the latest development which ended internal strife in the Congress party with the ouster Nabam Tuki as CM . The party leaders, acting swiftly,weaned away the party rebels who had helped Kalikho Pul to form the government.
Today, on the day of fast paced political developments, the breakaway group of MLAs of the Congress today came back to the party fold and elected Pema Khandu as the leader of Congress Legislature Party(CPL) to succeed Nabam Tuki, who has stepped down as the Chief Minister.
After the Supreme Court reinstated his government on July 13, Mr Tuki was asked by Governor Tathagat Roy on Thursday to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly within two days. With numbers were not in its favour till yesterday evening, the Congress was playing its cards close to its chest, expressing confidence of proving the majority in the House.
The day began with dramatic developments playing in favour of the Congress, with all the breakaway MLAs of the party, including Kalikho Pul, who walked out of the party to form the government with the help of BJP, came back to party to lend support to Tourism Minister Pema Khandu, son of late Chief Minster Dorjee Khandu as the newly CLP leader.
Shortly after Tuki resigned, Khandu knocked at the acting Governor Tathagata Roy’s door and staked claimed to form the new government with the support of 45 MLAs in the 60-member House,effective strength of which was reduced to 58.
Talking to reporters after meeting the Governor, Mr Khandu said he has staked the claim to form the new government. Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, who hails from Arunchal Pradesh, said in New Delhi that the BJP have nothing to do with developments in the state as the political crisis was the outcome of division within the Congress’s rank.
Newly elected CLP leader Pema Khandu is the son of former chief minister Dorjee Khandu, who died in a helicopter crash on May 20 in 2011, Pema was born on August 21 in 1979 in Gyangkar Village in Tawang district of Arunachal.
He is the eldest son of Dorjee Khandu. Father of three, including one daughter, Pema belongs to the Buddhist community. He became secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee in 2005, and the president of the District Congress Committee in Tawang in 2010.
He was the first elected unopposed in the state Assembly by-election from vacate 3-Mukto Assembly constituency under Tawang district in June 2011. He contested as INC member. After his winning, he was inducted as Cabinet minister of Water Resource Development and was the Tourism Minister in Nabam Tuki ministry.
He was re-elected in the 2014 Assembly elections from the same constituency on Congress ticket and elected unopposed. He again got a berth in the Ministry and was allocated the departments of Tourism, Urban Development, Town Planning, Art & Culture.
However, he resigned from the Nabam Tuki-led Cabinet in October 2015. In his resignation letter, Pema blamed Nabam Tuki leadership for miserably failing and living up to the expectations of the people of the state. There was no democracy within the party MLAs, he alleged.
He joined hands with Kalikho Pul and other INC members and demanded for leadership change. Later, the defected members elected Mr Pul as new leader.