Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Kumar Waii on Sunday said Chief Minister Pema Khandu played a part in the BJP denying him a party ticket in the upcoming Assembly election in the State.
This, he alleged, was done because Mr. Khandu saw him as a contender for the Chief Minister’s job.
Mr. Waii was one of the six BJP legislators, including Minister Jarkar Gamlin, dropped from the list of 54 candidates announced by the party on Sunday. Among those on the list are 16, including Mr. Khandu, who had been elected as Congress candidates in 2014. The BJP retained nine of its 11 MLAs.
“I am out because the CM thinks I am a contender for the CM’s post,” Mr. Waii said after finding his name did not figure for the Bameng Assembly constituency he has won thrice since the 2004 State polls.
Money power
“Money power is at play. What can I do when the CM is at the core of this power play? I did a lot for the BJP, but the party ignored me by forgetting its ideology that the country comes first, party and individuals later,” he told The Hindu from Delhi.
Mr. Waii said the BJP has replaced him with a political novice. “He [Goruk Pordung] is a school dropout, has no political background and became an active member of the party only a month ago. Maybe, his qualification is that he is related to the [junior Union Home Minister] Kiren Rijiju,” he added.
He wondered how the BJP was different from the Congress, which it accuses of favouring family politics.
In 2014, Mr. Waii had won the Bameng seat in East Kameng district unopposed. Mr. Khandu won the Mukto seat in Tawang district similarly.
He is facing a contest this time with the Janata Dal (Secular) having fielded anti-dam activist Lama Lobsang Gyatso, a Buddhist monk, in Mukto.
Mr. Khandu’s brother Tsering Tashi and cousin Jambey Tashi are the BJP candidates for the two other Assembly seats in Tawang district – Tawang and Lumla.
The BJP is yet to announce its candidates for six Assembly seats in the 60-member House. They include those represented by senior BJP Ministers T.N. Thongdok (Kalaktang) and Nabam Rebia (Doimukh).
