In yet another major jolt to the Congress Party, 43 legislators of the ruling party, including Chief Minister Pema Khandu, on Friday merged with the regional political party People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA). The Congress, which had 44 legislators in the House of 60, is now left with only one MlA, former Chief Minister Nabam Tuki.
The PPA is a partner of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the BJP-led anti-Congress alliance and a constituent of the BJP-led NDA.
With the Congress losing its Government in Arunachal Pradesh, the party dubbed the new dispensation as an “illegitimate child of BJP” and blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah for the “diabolical design to decimate democracy”.
However, hours after the development in Arunachal Pradesh, NEDA convener and Assam Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma ruled out any involvement of the BJP in the development. “The BJP has no role in this. It is a signal that people are not accepting the leadership of Rahul Gandhi,” said Sarma.
In New Delhi, Congress’ chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters, “Gross and rampant misuse of money power finally delivered an immoral Government of opportunists and turncoats. The mandate of the people of Arunachal Pradesh, who voted Congress Party to power, has been robbed in broad daylight.”
In Arunachal, Pema Khandu met the Speaker Wangki lowang and intimated him of their decision to merge with the PPA.
The Speaker, after physical verification of all the 43 MlAs issued a gazette notification making it official that the 43 Congress legislators have joined the PPA.
Welcoming the 43 MlAs to the PPA fold, party chief Kameng Ringu termed this as homecoming of the legislators and ruled out the involvement of the BJP in the development. “The BJP has no role in this and the legislators had taken the decisions on their own,” Ringu said and added that the two Independent legislators supporting the Government had also joined the PPA.
The 60-member Arunachal Pradesh legislative Assembly has an effective strength of 57 now. With Friday’s development, the PPA has 45 legislators including Khandu, the Speaker and two Independents while the BJP has 11 legislators.
Assam Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Pema Khandu called me up and said that he wants to be a part of the NEDA. I told him that the PPA is already a partner of the NEDA. The development today has strengthened the NEDA in the North-East.” The Minister also hinted at some developments in favour of NEDA in Manipur and Tripura in days to come.
On July 17 this year, Khandu was unanimously elected the leader of Congress legislature Party and Nabam Tuki tendered his resignation to the Governor, paving way for Khandu to become the Chief Minister.