Kumar Waii
Arunachal Pradesh home minister Kumar Waii Image - Northeast Now

Arunachal Pradesh home minister Kumar Waii on Sunday said that he was denied a BJP party ticket for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and that chief minister Pema Khandu played a part in it because Waii claims Khandu thought of him to be a contender for the post of chief minister.

Waii alleged that this was Khandu’s money power at play that the CM used to keep Waii away from the BJP, acoording to a report in The Hindu.

He also said that despite him doing a lot for the BJP but the party ignored him by forgetting its ideology that the country comes first and the party and individuals later.

He expressed his astonishment as a man named Goruk Pordung who is a ‘school dropout’ has been selected as a BJP candidate from the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Waii also mentioned that Pordung has no political background and that he became an active member of the BJP only a month ago. Waii said that he might have been given the BJP ticket as he is related to Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju.

Waii also wondered how the BJP was different from the Congress, which the latter accuses of favouring family politics.

The home minister had won the last election unopposed from Bameng seat in East Kameng district on Congress’s ticket. He joined the BJP in 2016 along with a large number of Congress MLAs.

He was, however, severely criticised recently after three persons had died in police firing during protests against Khandu government’s bid to grant permanent residence certificates to six non-tribal communities in the state.