BJP government on Saturday installed in Arunachal Pradesh after 33, out of 43 Peoples’ Party of Arunachal (PPA) MLAs led by Chief Minister Pema Khandu, joined the saffron brigade.
“Lotus has finally bloomed in Arunachal. The people of the state will see a new dawn of development in the new year under the new government,” Khandu told reporters in the Assembly premises.
Developments followed in quick succession after Khandu and six other MLAs were suspended from the PPA on Thursday for alleged anti-party activities. The next day, PPA President Kahfa Bengia appointed Takam Pario as the new chief minister of the state.
However, events took another unexpected turn when majority of the PPA legislators pledged their allegiance to Khandu and defected to the BJP.
Arunachal BJP President Tapir Gao confirmed that Khandu and 33 MLAs had joined the party. With this, BJP has gained the majority in the 60-member Arunachal assembly and will form the government. Gao added that Khandu would continue as the chief minister.
Khandu said the merger with the saffron party was for the sake of the state’s stability and development, which neither Congress nor the PPA had showed signs of offering.
“After several years of Congress misrule we observed that there was no visible development in the state. We joined the PPA with the intention to take the state to progress and prosperity, but there too, we find similar condition where the party president treated the MLAs undemocratically,” Khandu told reporters on Saturday.
Terming the decision to join the BJP a blessing in disguise for the state and the people, Khandu said, “There was no significant development in the state since last year due to political turmoil, but now with NDA government at the Centre, the state will witness a sea change in the coming years.”
PPA President Kafha Bengia accused the BJP of hijacking its MLAs to install its government in the state. He said the merger was “illegitimate” and that he would opt for legal action.
“We will move a court against those MLAs who have joined the BJP,” Bengia said.
