Former ministers join Congress ahead of Arunachal assembly polls

ITANAGAR — With Assembly polls in Arunachal Pradesh due next year, the opposition Congress in the state received a shot in the arm with two former ministers joining the party on Wednesday.

Kumar Waii, who was home minister in the Pema Khandu government, joined the Congress before the party’s leadership in New Delhi on Monday, while another minister of the Khandu cabinet, Rajesh Tacho, joined the grand old party here on Wednesday.

Waii had represented the Bameng assembly constituency in East Kameng district as Congress MLA for three consecutive terms from 2004 to 2019. He, however, lost the electoral battle from the constituency in 2019 as NPP nominee to BJP candidate Goruk Pordung.

Tacho had won from the Anini constituency for five terms as Congress candidate before joining the BJP in 2014. He was dropped from the Pema Khandu-led BJP government in 2017 and did not contest the 2019 elections.

Welcoming both the leaders, Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Nabam Tuki termed the development as a good beginning’ for the party in the state as well as in the country.

The Congress has four legislators in the 60-member Arunachal Assembly.

“It is a homecoming for both the leaders who were in the Congress earlier. It is a good beginning and I hope more senior leaders will follow suit in the days to come,” Tuki, a former chief minister, said.

“Congress is a family who works for all sections of society irrespective of party affiliations unlike the BJP,” Tuki, who represents Sagalee constituency in Papum Pare district, said.

He called upon the party workers to work with dedication to strengthen it at the grassroots and to bring back the Congress to power in the state and the country.

Talking to reporters, Waii said he had joined the Congress to strengthen the hands of Tuki.

“The country’s democracy is at stake and only the Congress can protect it. I joined the party to fight the divisive ideology and misrule of the BJP both in the Centre and the state,” he added.

Tacho said his return to the party is just like a homecoming and the zeal to work for it is still with him.