Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday criticized the Congress for allegedly resorting to religious-based politics in the state and urged the people to refrain from such practices.
Khandu’s remarks came in response to queries from media persons regarding an alleged notice issued by the Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF) endorsing Congress leader Bosiram Siram and former Chief Minister Nabam Tuki for the Arunachal East and West Lok Sabha seats respectively.
Tuki also serves as the president of the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC).
Accusing the Congress of hypocrisy, Khandu said that while Congress accuses the BJP of playing religious-based politics, they themselves are using a religious forum for political gains in Arunachal Pradesh.
He emphasized that the BJP focuses on performance-based politics and believes that exploiting religion for political purposes is unacceptable.
The chief minister expressed confidence that the Christian community would not allow politics to influence their religious beliefs and criticized the Congress for its actions, suggesting that history would remember this move by the party.
Regarding allegations made by Tuki that the BJP was enticing Congress candidates with money to secure victory in the assembly elections, Khandu dismissed the claims, stating that the candidates who withdrew their nominations likely did so because they recognized the BJP’s popularity and its ability to bring development to the state.
Tuki had on Tuesday claimed that many of the Congress candidates had withdrawn their nomination papers after being offered substantial sums by the BJP. The Congress had initially fielded 34 candidates in the 60 assembly seats, but they are now left with only 19 nominees.
“The candidates who withdrew their nominations must have understood BJP’s popularity among people and may have realized that only the BJP can bring development in the state. The people of Arunachal have discarded Congress from their hearts. BJP never believed in money politics and had never allured any Congress candidate to surrender in the elections,” he said.
Khandu also highlighted that only the BJP had fielded candidates in all 60 assembly seats, questioning how a party could claim to form the government when they had not even contested in half of the seats.
He expressed confidence that the BJP would secure a majority in both the state and national elections, emphasizing the party’s commitment to development over money politics.
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