GUWAHATI: BJP formalised on Wednesday incumbent
Pema Khandu
’s expected selection as Arunachal Pradesh’s 18th
CM
, just over a week after he led the party to an electoral landslide that sealed a third successive term in govt for the saffron party in this NorthEastern state bordering China, Bhutan and Myanmar.
For Khandu, at 44 the country's youngest CM, this will be his fifth chief ministerial stint in seven years and 10 months — thrice at the helm of BJP govts and a brief term each for Congress and People’s Party of Arunachal.
Home minister Amit Shah, party president and health minister JP Nadda, and BJP’s national general secretary BL Santhosh will attend Thursday’s swearing-in.
After staking claim to form the govt, Khandu thanked PM Narendra Modi and Nadda for their support, and the citizens of Arunachal Pradesh for trusting BJP.
“BJP scripted a historic victory by winning 46 out of 60 seats. People also voted for our two Lok Sabha MPs from the state for the second time. I assured the people of the state that the new government will function as “Team Arunachal' and address the challenges of the various regions, keeping the commitments in the
manifesto and ensuring development of the districts,” Khandu said.
The BJP Legislature Party meeting to elect the next CM was held in Itanagar 10 days after the election results were declared. The meeting was held in the presence of two central observers, former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and national general secretary Tarun Chugh. “State BJP chief Biyuram Wahge proposed the name of Khandu as the CM, which was supported by all party MLAs,” Chugh said.
This was BJP's second consecutive electoral landslide in the state with 46 seats — 10 of them unopposed — to build on its 2019 tally of 41 and leave Congress clinging to a solitary seat in its erstwhile stronghold of over three decades.
English (US) ·