Former Arunachal CM joins BJP

Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang today joined BJP.
With Apang's joining, BJP hopes to gain strength in North East region which has never been a stronghold of the party.
Apang (64) had served as Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh from January 18, 1980 to January 19, 1999 and again from August 2003 to April 2007 when he was replaced by Dorjee Khandu.
Apang has been a seven-time MLA having won the assembly polls in 1978, 1980, 1984 from Yingkiong-pangin constituency and later from Tuting-Yingkiong Assembly Constituency in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2004.
Apang later formed his own party and was elected leader of the newly-formed United Democratic Front, a coalition of his own party, Arunachal Congress and several others in 2003.

A few months later, Apang and his supporting MLAs merged with BJP when it ruled a state in the north-east for the first time but quit the alliance after BJP lost the 2004 Lok Sabha polls and rejoined Congress.
In October 2004, Congress won a majority in state assembly elections and Apang became Chief Minister again and remained in the position till April 2007 when he resigned after pressure from other Congress MLAs that led to the election of Dorjee Khandu as Congress Legislature Party leader.
Apang was also arrested in August 2010 in connection with Rs 1,000 crore public distribution system scam.