Congress lost its government in AP Khandu merged with PPA

TIL Desk/National/AP-The Congress on Friday lost its government in Arunachal Pradesh when 43 of its MLAs led by Chief Minister Pema Khandu defected wholesale and merged with the People’s Party of Arunachal, just two months after it had regained power. Khandu, who had replaced Nabam Tuki following a dissident campaign in July, paraded 42 MLAs before Speaker Tenzing Norbu Thongdok, who accepted their joining the PPA, assembly sources said.

The dramatic development in Arunachal Pradesh brought back memories of the famous ‘aya ram, gaya ram’ episode involving Bhajan Lal who was heading a Janata Party government in Haryana and defected lock, stock, and barrel with all the party MLAs to the Congress after Indira Gandhi came back to power in 1980. Tuki was the only Congress MLA who did not join PPA, a constituent of the North East Democratic Alliance which was formed on May 24 in Guwahati.

Khandu on 16 July had become the chief minister after months of political turmoil that unseated Tuki, who himself was reinstated as chief minister by the apex court only two days before. In a House of 60, the Congress had 44 MLAs with one seat falling vacant after former chief minister Kalikho Pul committed suicide on 9 August, while the BJP has 11 members including two Independents.