Pema Khandu, son of the late Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, has been sworn in as the ninth Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday after Nabam Tuki resigned as the leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) and stepped down from the post of CM.
The 37-year-old Pema, who became the youngest chief minister in the country doesn't have to take the floor test after governor Tathagat Roy said he was satisfied with Khandu's show of strength on Saturday where he paraded 45 MLAs to prove the government's majority.
Chowna Mein was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister and both the leaders were administered oath by the governor at Raj Bhavan in Itanagar.
Hours ahead of the scheduled floor test in the Assembly on Saturday, the Congress Legislature Party had elected Pema Khandu, in place of Tuki, who was restored to the Chief Minister's post earlier this week after the apex court verdict.
The BJP however continued to defend its stand over the issue and said that Tuki's replacement is a vindication of the fact that the entire issue was an internal matter of the Congress party and that it had only provided support to form a minority government.
On Saturday the Congress confirmed that the rebels including the former CM Kalikho Pul are ready to back Khandu after they had challenged Nabam Tuki's candidacy.
"We have the support of 45 Congress MLAs and two independents in the state. We have staked claim to form the new government," Khandu had told CNN-News18.
Former CM Nabam Tuki too had confirmed that Khandu's entry is a move to keep the Congress party united and also that all the charges against him are "baseless".
The court had slammed the governor and told him that he cannot embroil himself in any "political thicket" or take "individual call" when an elected government enjoys majority in the House.
Former Chief Minister Kalikho Pul, who had unseated Tuki in February this year with the help of a faction of dissident Congress legislators and BJP members, claimed that he has got the support of 42 legislators in the 60-member house, whose effective strength is 58 now after two members resigned earlier.
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