Apang is CM, heads jumbo pack

Apang, in fact, had been waiting for this opportune moment to repay Mithi in his own coin, the way the latter did to him five-and-a-half years ago.

Altogether, 37 ministers were sworn in today, including CM Apang, while he accommodated Kameng Dolo, the man who broke the Congress Legislature Party from within, as his deputy.

While 33 of them have been sworn in as Cabinet ministers, three others have been given minister of state berths, thus leaving only five others, whom Apang has promised to compensate adequately with other posts. The week-long drama came to an end last night when the Congress government, already reduced to a minority with a mass exodus on July 28, was voted out in a marathon session of the State Assembly.

Immediately after taking over as CM, Apang said his primary objective was to restore peace in the state, which has been considerably disturbed by the increasing activities of the NSCN(IM) especially in the two districts of Tirap and Changlang adjoining Nagaland. But how he proposes to tackle the Naga militants is yet to be known, given that the NSCN(IM) is believed to have played a role in ousting the Congress government.

‘‘My party had always remained with the NDA, and the new UDF government will support the NDA,’’ Apang said. The UDF is a combined force of 35 Congress(D), three unattached, one Independent and one Arunachal Congress legislator. Congress(D) has been adequately compensated for allowing Apang to become CM by appointing Kameng Dolo, a former minister in the Mithi government, as the deputy CM. Three other senior politicians, L. Wanglat, T. Wangham and T.L. Rajkumar — all arrested by the Mithi government for alleged links with the NSCN(IM) last month — have also been sworn in as Cabinet ministers.

With this, the Congress is left with only 18 MLAs. Those who were sworn in as Cabinet ministers included 22 who were also Cabinet ministers in the Congress regime. In fact, all the legislators from Tirap and Changlang, who had played a crucial role in pulling down the Apang government in 1998, played the same role this time, but to dislodge Mithi.

Apang incidentally holds the record of being the second longest-serving CM of the country.