Another Round Of Musical Chairs

The BJP, desperate for a full-fledged government in the Northeast, has orchestrated en masse defection from the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Arunachal Pradesh. By inducting 39 of the 42 MLAs of the UDF, the BJP has managed to instal its own government in the state. Gegong Apang, the lone Opposition MLA in the Mukut Mithi-led House, was sworn in as CM with the support of 41 of the 60 MLAs after the BJP ensured Mithi’s ouster a year ahead of assembly polls, due in October 2004. The Congress, meanwhile, has accused the NSCN(IM) of interfering in Arunachal politics.