In a virtual repeat of a Bhajan Lal act in Haryana over two decades ago, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang on Saturday rejoined Congress along with his ministerial colleagues giving a big jolt to the BJP ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. Apang imitated Lal, who as Chief Minister had led the entire cabinet into the Congress leaving the then Janata Party after Indira Gandhi's return to power in 1980.
Apang and his ministerial colleagues were welcomed to the party fold by AICC media department chairperson Girija Vyas and CWC member Ramesh Chennithala, who is in charge of party affairs in the state.
The longest serving Chief Minister of the state announced his decision to quit BJP and rejoin Congress at a special press conference in New Delhi at the AICC headquarters saying, "In fact, it is a homecoming for all of us. It is the Congress Party alone, which has always had a presence at the grass-root level in Arunachal Pradesh. "We have all grown up in the environment of peace and coexistence. You all know that the ideology and philosophy of the Congress run deep in our vein," Apang told reporters.
Accusing the previous BJP-led NDA Government of not fulfilling a single promise for the development of Arunachal Pradesh, Apang said, "Now that the state is slated to go for Assembly polls on October seven this year, people, particularly political workers, have started questioning our wisdom to continue in a party which not only has narrow political thinking but proved an abysmal failure to fulfill commitments made to the tribal people of the state."
