43 Congress MLAs including the Chief Minister and two Independents have joined the PPA, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.
New Delhi : Arunachal Pradesh on Friday witnessed yet another political drama of Congress chief minister Pema Khandu leading defection of the entire Congress legislature party, except former CM Nabam Tuki, to the People”s Party of Arunachal (PPA), a constituent of the BJP-sponsored North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).
The Union Cabinet quickly recommended imposition of the President’s rule in the state amid a top BJP source stating Khandu will be retained as the chief minister after a formality of asking him to prove his majority that he already has on account of 43 of the 44 Congress MLAs defecting to the PPA.
A furious Congress accused the BJP of engineering the mass defection using “money and muscle power” and talked of “democracy under threat.” Congress general secretary CP Joshi, in-charge of the Northeast affairs, asserted at an AICC press briefing that Khandu buckled under the threats of the Centre squeezing funds to the state and claimed the same fund politics was being played in Manipur and Meghalaya as well.
Dr Joshi said devolution of the central funds was done under an age-tested formula but the Centre now gives money on its whims and fancy since after abolishing the Planning Commission. BJP spokesman Nalin Kohli said it was the Congress failure in not keeping its flocks together. Why blame the BJP when none joined his party, he asked.
Union Minister of State for home Kiren Rijiju, who also hails from Arunachal Pradesh and brain behind both the defections in December and now, insisted that the BJP had no role in the development. He told reporters here on Friday: “Congress MLAs, including the chief minister, are angry with their own central leadership. They had to wait in Delhi for four, five days to meet their own leaders. This eventually led them to join a regional party floated by late Lalikho Pul.
The BJP-engineered coup comes two months after the Supreme Court restored the Congress government of Tuki that was destabilised by the Centre with the help of Governor Jyoprasad Rajkhova who was sacked only four days ago after he refused advice to quit on the health ground.
The PPA was formed in March this year by now deceased former chief minister Kalikho Pul who committed suicide as a shock of the Apex Court dismissing his government. After the 2014 Assembly elections, Congress had 47 MLAs in the 60-member Assembly, 21 of whom left the party with Pul to form a PPA government with outside support of 11 BJP MLAs. All 22, including Pul, had returned en-block to the Congress after the Supreme Court restored its government on July 13 and as a compromise Tuki agreed to let Khandu be the CM.
Things moved fast after union ministers Smriti Irani, Kiren Rijiju and Mansukh Mandaviya as also the BJP”s northeast in-charge general secretary Ram Madhav visited Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, on Tuesday and put pressure on Khandu to make the move. His government being forever dependent on the BJP-led Centre for funds, he had the choice to fall for a friendly government in Delhi or opt for fresh polls that none of the MLAs wanted before the Assembly term ends in 2019.
Mizoram Governor V Shanmuganathan, who took over as Arunachal”s interim Governor from Rajkhova on September 14, is not in Itanagar and hence it may take some time before Khandu takes fresh oath.
