APCC condemns desertion
[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 22 Mar: The Congress candidate from Palin assembly constituency and senior leader of the party, Takam Pario, joined the BJP on Friday.
Pario had been named as the Congress candidate in the first list issued by the AICC. His decision to join the BJP shocked the Congress party and many others in the state. He was seen as one of the party’s strongest candidates for the upcoming assembly elections.
He joined the BJP in the presence of his long-time political rival and present MLA of Palin, Balo Raja.
Talking to the media, Pario said that his decision to join the BJP was made in the interest of his area.
“Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre and Pema Khandu in the state, the development is picking pace. I am joining to strengthen their hands,” said Pario.
Further, he stated that his decision to join the saffron party and extend support to Balo Raja, who is the BJP candidate from Palin assembly constituency, “is kind of returning the favour to the sitting MLA.”
“In 2014, he helped me by ensuring that I won the election uncontested, and today I am returning the favour for the development of our area, state and country,” said Pario.
He added that he was never pressured to join the BJP. Instead, he alleged that the state Congress leaders failed to revive the party and therefore he joined the BJP.
Meanwhile, former MP and senior Congress leader Takam Sanjay, who is Pario’s cousin, reacting to Pario’s joining the BJP said that “people are free to go wherever they want. The whole world may join the BJP but I will remain in the Congress,” he added.
The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has condemned Pario for deserting the Congress after he had been given the party ticket as the official candidate of the INC to fight the assembly election from the Palin assembly constituency.
In a statement, the APCC said that “Pario applied for the INC party ticket to contest as the MLA candidate from Palin, and accordingly, the Pradesh Election Committee recommended his name for the issuance of the INC party ticket.
“Instead of taking the INC party ticket from the APCC office, he left the Congress and joined the saffron party officially, which is a great insult to the Congress and a great blow to his political career with big questions on his integrity and morality in joining the saffron party,” the APCC stated.
The Congress party has also issued an expulsion letter to Pario, as he did not officially resign from the primary and active membership of the Congress party.
Further, the party claimed that those who left the Congress and joined the BJP “are all under pressure, as they are compelled to do so due to their political and business careers.”
“None are clean. So the BJP is the washing machine. Unless they are washed by the washing machines of the BJP, there will be greater trouble ahead. This is the situation for all the opposition political parties in the state and the nation,” the party added.
The APCC called for an end to poaching of leaders, and called for free and fair elections “to let democracy flourish.”
The Congress questioned the manner and the timing of Pario’s deserting the party, “which has built up his economic and political empire.”
Takam Pario was first elected as a PPA MLA in 2009. Later he joined the Congress and was also a minister. He lost the 2019 election to BJP candidate Balo Raja.
