Pema Khandu to head Arunachal’s first elected BJP govt

From the “wild card entry” into Arunachal Pradesh cabinet in 2011 after the death of his father and chief minister Dorjee Khandu in a helicopter crash to leading dissident Congress MLAs in 2016 and finally giving BJP its first elected government in 2019, Pema Khandu’s political career graph so far has impressed many.

Around noon on Monday Khandu, 40, a graduate in history from Delhi’s prestigious Hindu College, marched towards Raj Bhawan at Itanagar with 41 newly elected BJP MLAs and staked claim to form the frontier state’s new government. Hours before, the BJP legislature party elected Khandu their leader to head the state’s first elected BJP government.

Elections for 57 of the 60-member Assembly were held on April 11, along with two Lok Sabha seats. The BJP bagged 38 seats while three of its MLAs were declared elected unopposed before the polls. The BJP had won 11 seats in 2014 Assembly elections.

After defecting from Congress to People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) and then switching over to the BJP in 2016, Khandu served as the chief minister and steered the BJP-led government. The BJP had similarly taken over the Gegong Apang-led United Democratic Front government in 2003 till the elections eight months later.

“Our challenge begins now. People of Arunachal Pradesh has helped in the full bloom of the lotus with immense hope. We have to work hard for the state’s development and meet those aspirations,” Khandu told reporters after the legislature party meeting.

Khandu, who joined Congress in 2000 and secretary of the party’s state unit was elected as an MLA uncontested from his father’s Mukto constituency and was inducted as a water resource and tourism minister in 2011 soon after his father’s death. He was again elected uncontested from the same constituency as a Congress MLA in 2014. This is for the first time, Pema contested the elections and got elected to the Assembly.

Khandu will take oath as the new chief minister on May 29, where Union minister J P Nadda, Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP general secretary Ram Madhab, among others are likely to attend the ceremony. The three had taken part in Monday’s legislature party meeting in Itanagar. “I am sure Arunachal Pradesh will achieve new heights of development and growth under his (Khandu) able leadership,” Nadda tweeted.

Promise to improve connectivity, be it road, telecom or air transport is going to be among the biggest challenges before Khandu and BJP’s new political journey in the frontier state, which shares the border with China, Myanmar and Bhutan.