Two National People’s Party (NPP) MLAs – Tapuk Taku and Tarin Dakpe – on March 25 joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the upcoming general elections to the Lok Sabha and the Arunachal Pradesh legislative assembly.
Taku, a three-time legislator from Seppa East constituency, joined the Saffron party in the presence of chief minister and senior BJP leader Pema Khandu, Union minister Kiren Rijiju, and state’s cabinet ministers Bamang Felix and Tage Taki.
Welcoming the NPP leader to the BJP, Khandu said: “Welcome to BJP Arunachal Pradesh Parivaar! I extend my gratitude to MLA Shri Tapuk Taku Ji for his faith in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and welcome his joining the party. I appreciate his decision taken in the larger interest of the people and for the development of the 10th Seppa East assembly constituency.”
Sitting MLA from Raga constituency in Kamle district, Tarin Dakpe, who was denied an NPP ticket to fight the ensuing polls, joined the BJP in the presence of the party’s state vice president Tarh Tarak and other leaders in the BJP state headquarters in Itanagar on March 25.
Citing reasons for his joining the BJP, the NPP MLA indicated the “outstanding work” executed by the Saffron party in the state. He vowed his “full support” to the aspiring BJP MLA candidate from Raga, Rotom Tebin for comprehensive growth and development of his constituency and Kamle district in general, the Kamle district BJP said in a statement.
Arunachal Pradesh goes to vote for the Lok Sabha seats and the 60-member legislative assembly simultaneously on April 19.
BJP, which is going to the simultaneous polls solo, has already announced its 60 candidates for the assembly election and fielded both sitting MPs – Kiren Rijiju and Tapir Gao – for the Arunachal West and Arunachal East Lok Sabha seats respectively.
While the Opposition Congress has announced the first list of 34 candidates, NPP unveiled the names of its 29 candidates, NCP (Ajit Pawar) 17 and Peoples’ Party of Arunachal (PPA) so far fielded two candidates for the assembly polls.
