Arunachal Pradesh CM gets deadline for BJP merger

The Bharatiya Janata Party has set June 30 as deadline for Arunachal Pradesh chief minister, Mr Kalikho Pul to merge his regional People’s Party of Arunachal with the saffron party.

Disclosing that the Arunachal Pradesh chief minister has sought some more time and requested for an extension of the merger date, reliable sources in the BJP told this newspaper that although Mr Pul has been trying to buy time most PPA legislators have given their consent for the merger with BJP.

Informing that the convenor of the newly-formed North-East Democratic Alliance, Mr Himanta Biswa Sarma, was in Itanagar for a few hours last week to discuss the merger issue with Mr Pul, sources in PPA said that Mr Pul wanted to take all his legislators into confidence before taking a decision.

Clarifying that there was no revolt like situation, sources said that the BJP is said to have assured party tickets to all the PPA legislators from their respective constituencies in the next Assembly polls in the state.

Asserting that the meeting between BJP general secretary, Mr Ram Madhav, Mr Pul and Nagaland Chief Minister, Mr T.R. Zeliang was aimed at firming up the strategy of NEDA in the north-eastern states, sources said that leaders from Mizoram and Manipur would be attending the meeting scheduled to take place in Guwahati on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the camp of the former Arunachal chief minister, Mr Nabam Tuki was keeping a close watch on the political developments.

There were reports in local media indicating political crisis in the frontier state but deputy chief minister, Mr Chowna Mein and three senior MLAs dismissed the reports in a joint report. Speculation arose after a rift between the chief minister and senior MLAs, which went viral on social media.

Mr Mein, along with MLAs Mr Pema Khandu, Mr Markio Tado and Mr Pasang D Sona, the alleged players in the revolt, claimed there was no political crisis brewing and each minister, parliamentary secretary and MLA is working on delivering the change the government had promised since it came to power in February this year.