Pema Khandu, who pitchforked into politics after the death of his father in a helicopter crash eight years ago, was on Wednesday sworn in as the first Chief Minister of an elected Bharatiya Janata Party government in Arunachal Pradesh. Chronologically, he is the 10th. His father, Dorjee Khandu was the fifth.
There was another first for Mr Khandu. His formal installation happened in Itanagar’s landmark convention centre, named after his father, instead of the Raj Bhavan about 2 km away, where his predecessors were sworn in.
Apart from Mr Khandu, Governor Brigadier (Retd.) B.D. Mishra administered the oath of office and secrecy to Chown Mein as the Deputy Chief Minister and 10 others as ministers. This included Nakap Nalo and Taba Tedir, who had won the elections to the 60-member Assembly for the first time.
There was no woman in the Council of Ministers whose portfolios would be allocated soon. Three of the BJP’s 41 legislators are women, including giantkiller Jummum Ete Deori, who defeated State Congress president Takam Sanjoy.
Mr. Khandu described the day as historic as a “full-fledged BJP government has been installed” in the State for the first time.
“With their mandate, the people have given us a huge responsibility to transform Arunachal Pradesh under the leadership and guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Our priority sectors will be law and order, health, and education besides addressing unemployment through investments in viable sectors. I assure people that we will run a clean, transparent and corruption-free government,” the Chief Minister said in a brief interaction with newspersons after the swearing-in ceremony.
The chief ministers of five north-eastern States attended the ceremony. They were Assam’s Sarbananda Sonowal, Manipur’s Nongthongbam Biren Singh, Meghalaya’s Conrad K. Sangma, Nagaland’s Neiphiu Rio, and Tripura’s Biplab Kumar.
Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, and Assam Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma too attended the function.
The rise of Pema Khandu
Mr. Khandu was made the State’s Water Resources Development and Tourism Minister in a Congress government soon after his father’s death in April 2011. In June that year, he won the by-election to the Mukto Assembly seat – still synonymous with his father’s name.
Instability since the reign of Jarbom Gamlin, his father’s successor as the Chief Minister, never quite made Mr Khandu optimistic about his political career. “I was more interested in business than politics,” he had said once.
But the State’s political uncertainty made Mr. Khandu a surer leader in July 2016 when he took over from Nabam Tuki as the Chief Minister of a Congress government. In September that year, his Congress government switched over to the regional People’s Party of Arunachal only to change to the BJP colour three months later.
That was the BJP’s second “takeover” government. The first was for eight months from August 2003 when the party took over from the United Democratic Front headed by Gegong Apang.
