Changing colours

Some senior leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre are advising caution in dealing with the political situation in Arunachal Pradesh. Several Congress legislators have rebelled and initiated a move, with the help of BJP MLAs, to impeach the Speaker of the Assembly. The Congress has accused the Centre of trying to destabilise the Congress government led by Nabam Tuki in the state. A senior Union minister has asked his party members to tread cautiously in Arunachal, reminding them how during the time of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre all the Congress MLAs, under the leadership of then chief minister Gegong Apang, had joined the BJP "wholesale". But once the government changed, they returned "wholesale" to the Congress, the minister said. He has been trying to convince party members that Arunachal has its own special characteristics as a border state, where politics is determined more by tribal affiliations than by ideology.