Arunachal crisis: Under fire BJP shifts blame on Congress

BJP leader Nalin Kohli said Congress should introspect reasons behind political crisis in Arunachal Pradesh

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday lashed out at the Congress for levelling baseless allegations on the Centre over the ongoing political crisis in Arunachal Pradesh and advocated that the grand old party should instead introspect the reasons behind the present state of affairs.

"Instead of leveling political allegations, the Congress Party would also do well to reflect what was the reason of dissatisfaction that their own leaders and MLAs walked out of their party and merged with another party," BJP leader Nalin Kohli told ANI.

"The BJP had only provided support from outside. So, it's the Congress who has to answer the larger political question," he added.

Yesterday, Pema Khandu was elected as the new leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) after 44 MLAs chose him in place of chief minister Nabam Tuki, who assumed charge after the Supreme Court restored the government in Arunachal Pradesh.

He will today take oath as the new chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh in Itanagar. The much anticipated floor test in Arunachal Pradesh Assembly was cancelled after Tuki resigned as the CLP leader.

Khandu, the son of late chief minister Dorjee Khandum who died in a chopper crash in 2011, hails from Tawang area, bordering China.

Khandu joined the Congress in early 2000 and became the secretary of Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee in 2005.

Khandu was later re-elected without any opposition from Mukto in the 2014 assembly elections.

The Supreme Court, in a historic verdict on Wednesday, reinstated Tuki-led Congress Government and quashed the actions of the Governor post December 15 last year.

Tuki-led Congress government was dismissed following days of turmoil after 21 of its 47 lawmakers rebelled against the chief minister.

The Congress, which had 47 MLAs seats in the 60-member assembly, suffered a jolt when 21 of its lawmakers rebelled. Eleven BJP MLAs backed the rebels in the bid to upstage the government. Later, 14 rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified.

The leader of the dissident faction, Kalikho Pul, was sworn-in as the chief minister on February 19 with the support of the 20 Congress rebels and 11 legislators of the BJP.