Sonia summons Apang, new CM in offing

Itanagar, Apr 06 (UNI) The curtain on the high-level political drama over change in leadership in Arunachal Pradesh has been dropped with AICC President Sonia Gandhi giving green signal to the change of guard in this Himalayan state.

The hot seat would be steered by state power Minister Dorjee Khandu in place of sitting incumbent Gegong Apang, which would be communicated to Mr Apang and Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Omem Moyong Deori, who have been summoned to Delhi. Mr Apang and Deori air-dashed to Guwahati early this morning, in a special chopper, to catch the first flight to the capital.

While honouring the sentiments of the rebel Congress leaders, Ms Gandhi last night gave a nod to change in leadership to resolve the ongoing crisis, senior Water Resources Minister Tako Dabi told UNI over phone from New Delhi this morning. The swearing-in of the new council of ministers would take place shortly and accordingly the Centre has appointed Nagaland Governor K Sankaranarayanan as governor of Arunachal with additional charge in place of Meghalaya governor M M Jacob, who has expressed his inability to discharge dual charges, he informed.

The new governor would swear-in tomorrow evening, Raj Bhawan sources here said.

Mr Dabi also appealed to the secretaries of all the departments not to move any government files till the crisis was resolved. Mr.

Dabi's reaction came following a government circular by the Chief Minister's office to work on all the pending files even in the absence of the concerned ministers.

It might be mentioned here that out of 33 Congress legislators, 27 including 11 ministers, have revolted against the incumbent chief minister for his 'dictatorial' nature and 'unfair' distribution of portfolios. The Congress has 33 MLAs rpt 33 in the 60 members Assembly followed by BJP (9), two each of NCP and Arunachal Congress (AC), besides 14 rpt 14 Independent. However, eleven Independent along with two NCP and one AC legislators are supporting the rebel camp.

Meanwhile, the proposed visit of Prime Minister Mamohan Singh to the state on April 8 next remains uncertain, highly placed sources here said.

UNI