Arunachal CM offers to quit, asks Sonia to resolve crisis

Giving in to the squabbles within the ruling Congress, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jarbom Gamlin has offered his resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi, to give the party high command a chance to step in and end the ongoing crisis.

According to party sources, the CM's main detractor in the party and president of Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee Nabam Tuki has also submitted his resignation to Sonia Gandhi.

The infighting in the Congress had spilled over and culminated into street violence in the hill state.

Both Gamlin and Tuki have promised to stand by whatever decision Gandhi takes to resolve the crisis. Their offers of resignation have been construed as part of the exercise to help Sonia Gandhi decide the future course of the party in Arunachal Pradesh.

Earlier, a three-member fact-finding team of the All India Congress Committee comprising Sushil Kumar Shinde, Bijoy Krisnha Handique and Dhaniram Shandil had visited Arunachal Pradesh to assess the ground situation there in the wake of the political instability rocking the state.

The team of observers has already submitted its report to the party high command.

Both Gamlin and Tuki have claimed to have the support of equal number of Congress legislators in Arunachal Pradesh. The party has 42 legislators in the 60-member House in the hill state.

Sonia Gandhi is likely to decide the fate of Gamlin by Monday.

Gamlin took over as the chief minister on May 5 this year after the tragic death of his predecessor Dorjee Khandu in a helicopter crash on April 30.

But the new CM faced dissidence from day one as many senior leaders in the party had been overlooked while making the appointment for the coveted post.
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It will be a difficult task for the Congress high command to find an undisputed and revered leader like the late Dorjee Khandu, who had enjoyed a trouble-free tenure as CM since taking over in 2007.

Arunachal Pradesh, which shares its border with China, Bhutan and Myanmar, is a strategically important state and needs a stable government led by an able leader.

Some massive infrastructure development projects -- including the Rs 20,000 crore Trans Arunachal Highway Project as well as numerous multi-crore mega hydro-electric projects -- are being implemented in the state.

Arunachal has also faced the horrors of militancy lately after insurgents from neighbouring Assam and Nagaland managed to set up base here.