GUWAHATI: When Pema Khandu took over as the state’s chief minister in July 2016 at the age of 37, he was perhaps quick to pick up on a long-standing trend in Arunachal Pradesh politics – the tendency to stick with the party that rules at the Centre.
Khandu, who studied history at Delhi’s Hindu College, became a minister in Nabam Tuki’s BJP government in 2011 after his father, then prime minister Dorje Khandu, was killed in a helicopter crash. But Pema’s political trajectory soared after a Supreme Court order ended the constitutional crisis and restored Nabam Tuki’s BJP government in 2016. Khandu became the BJP’s prime minister after Tuki resigned.
But two months later, Khandu defected to the Arunachal Party (PPA) in September 2016 following internal infighting in the Congress and joined the BJP in December along with 43 other state assembly members.
This gave Khandu a flying start in his career, saw him become the state’s chief minister again and win the 2019 assembly elections, giving the BJP its first real government in the border state. Khandu did much the same thing that Himanta Biswa Sarma and N. Biren Singh did in Assam and Manipur: he left the Indian National Congress for the BJP and went all out to establish it as a major political force.
On Sunday, under Khandu’s leadership, the BJP recorded its best performance ever, winning 46 of the 60 parliamentary seats, while the Indian National Congress was all but wiped out, winning just one of the 19 seats it contested.
“It is a historic victory as we have won the maximum number of seats,” Khandu told reporters in Itanagar, pointing out the development works undertaken under the Narendra Modi government as the reason for the BJP’s yet again victory.
“This is also a victory for Khandu’s leadership. People have reposed confidence in the way he has led the party and earned everyone’s support,” said a BJP leader from Itanagar. He said the second consecutive victory has also consolidated Khandu’s position within the BJP in Arunachal Pradesh, where defections have long been a fear. “Under his leadership, no important leader has left the party. In fact, many leaders from the Congress and NPP have jumped ship to join the BJP ahead of the elections. This has meant that the Congress has not been able to field candidates in all 60 seats,” he said. Party sources said this has pushed Khandu ahead of two other senior BJP figures from the state, Kiren Rijiju and Tapir Gao, who are both members of the Lok Sabha and are contesting in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Khandu is a 44-year-old Buddhist who belongs to the Monpa ethnic group and lives mainly in Tawang district, which borders China. He was elected unopposed from Mukt constituency in 2011, shortly after his father’s death, and was re-elected in 2014 and now in 2024.
Published June 2, 2024 15:22 IST
