PEMA KHANDU Sunday took oath as the new chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, bringing the curtains down on a high-voltage political drama in which the Congress managed to outwit the BJP and retain power. Khandu, however, said he held no grudge against the BJP, and asked its legislators to become a part of his “Team Arunachal”. “I don’t have anything against the BJP. My main agenda is all-round development of the state. We must all work as Team Arunachal, and I appeal to the 11 BJP legislators to also become part of Team Arunachal,” Khandu said at a press conference shortly after being sworn in. The 37-year-old chief minister said people are in different parties only during polls. “But after elections, legislators of all parties should work for overall development of the state,” he said. [related-post] Watch Video: What's making news On the BJP’s North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), whose conclave he attended last week as part of the People’s Party of Arunachal delegation led by Kalikho Pul, Khandu said: “That (NEDA) is now a past. The Supreme Court judgment has reverted us to the Congress.” As Governor Tathagata Roy administered the oath of office to Khandu at a function at the Raj Bhavan, former chief ministers Nabam Tuki and Kalikho Pul, sworn rivals till four days ago, sat side by side in the front row. Tuki later said, “Differences have ended.. The party stands united and everyone will work together for development of the state.” Chowna Mein was sworn in as deputy chief minister. He held the same post in the previous Pul cabinet. Khandu said that addressing development needs of nearly 1,600 border villages will be a top priority of his government. He named Luguthang, a village located 16,000 feet above sea level close to the China border, where his father and then chief minister Dorjee Khandu’s remains were found after he died in a helicopter crash on April 30, 2011. “I personally know of Luguthang, a village with only 10 families having about 30 people, all yak grazers who have to move up during the summer to find fodder for their animals. They don’t have proper road link to the outside world and other basic amenities,” said Khandu. “Villages up in the mountains along the China, Bhutan and Myanmar borders are in a bad shape. Most don’t even have basic facilities. Development of villages along Arunachal’s international border is one of my top priorities.”
