BJP purchased Congress candidates to win elections in Arunachal, alleges Nabam Tuki

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Nabam Tuki on Tuesday accused the ruling BJP in the state for alluring its candidate with financial benefits, to win the assembly elections. Tuki alleged that many of the party candidates withdrew their nomination papers as the ruling candidates purchased them with huge amounts.  The grand opposition party which initially fielded 34 candidates in the 60 assembly seats, now left with only 19 candidates in the fray.

Tuki is contesting as a Lok Sabha candidate from Arunachal West parliamentary constituency while party’s vice president Bosiram Siram is contesting from the Eastern seat.

“This is not a surprise… The ruling party has made all efforts to win the elections. It is an open secret that the BJP candidates are using money to purchase our candidates,” The veteran Congress leader alleged. Talking to reporters after releasing the party’s manifesto here, Tuki, a six-time MLA from Sagalee constituency in Papum Pare district confidently said that whatever ploy being used by the BJP, the Congress will win in maximum seats.

“We are confident of winning in all the 19 seats where our candidates are contesting,” Tuki said. On alliance with any other parties in the state, the APCC chief revealed that the Congress would go for alliance with any party which believes in secularism. He, however, declined to comment on the names of the parties. When asked whether the party would suffer a setback as the ruling BJP already won ten seats uncontested including the Sagalee seat which he is representing, by newcomer Ratu Techi, Tuki said that this is not a new thing in Arunachal Pradesh. “The Congress in the state won eleven seats unopposed during the 2014 assembly elections,” he added. The senior Congress leader said that if the INDIA Bloc returns to power at the Centre, the government in the state would also change instantly, which he termed as a ‘common factor’ in Arunachal Pradesh.

 “If Congress returns to power at the Centre, you will see that there will be no space to stand at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan as all the BJP MLAs will join Congress immediately,” he said and added that politics is a game and Congress never treats anyone as enemy.

“All the present MLAs and ministers of the BJP in the state are originally from the Congress. It is natural as Arunachal is a resource-crunch state and entirely dependent on New Delhi,” he said.                   

To another query whether his political career would come to an end if he lost the Lok Sabha elections this time, Tuki said that he is confident of winning as the people are with him.

“People have witnessed my contribution to the state in various capacities and have full faith in me. I am sure that they will also support me this time,” the former chief minister added.

Former Lok Sabha MP and party’s campaign chairman Takam Sajoy who was also present on the occasion said, “We trust democratic values. Win and loss is not a new thing in a democratic setup.”

“There will be no end to his (Tuki’s) political career,” Sanjoy said and added that INDIA Bloc will bounce back as people of the country know how to give a befitting reply to the BJP’s ‘autocratic’ rule.

Also Read: Arunachal: Nabam Tuki to Contest Arunachal West Parliamentary Seat (sentinelassam.com)

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