PPA rues Arunachal BJP's decision to sever ties with party, says it is not a 'healthy sign' for North East

Itanagar: The Peoples Party of Arunachal (PPA) on Monday said BJP’s decision to sever ties with it was not a ‘healthy sign’ for the region and said that the bone of contention was Pema Khandu carrying on as chief minister. State BJP president Tapir Gao on 10 August announced that it has severed relations with its North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) partner PPA following orders from the party’s central leaders. [caption id=“attachment_2897246” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Pema Khandu. PTI[/caption] Reacting to BJP’s decision, PPA secretary general Kaling Jerang in a statement said the party only wanted that Khandu, facing charges of “corruption and criminal conspiracies”, should not continue as chief minister. He said that the party had earlier written to BJP national president Amit Shah and NEDA convener Himanta Biswa Sarma demanding that Khandu be removed as chief minister. “There were serious charges of corruption and criminal conspiracies leading to the death of two persons in Tawang shooting incident in May last year, and the 60-page suicide note left behind by former chief minister Kalikho Pul, where Khandu has been named with grievous charges of corruption,” Jerang said in the statement. At least two people were killed when police opened fire to disperse a mob opposing hydro power projects at Tawang district, when they tried to barge in a police station on 2 May last year. It was alleged that Kalikho Pul had written a suicide note before killing himself on 9 August last year, but its authenticity was not confirmed. Jerang said BJP’s decision to disassociate with the lone regional party in the state from NEDA was “definitely not a healthy sign” for the development of regional political parties and the region itself. The party, he said, expected that NEDA would play a larger role for all round development of North East region rather than be a platform for “divisive politics master minded by self-centred politicians”.