CM expresses concern over ‘money culture’ in assembly polls

Staff Reporter

YAZALI, 4 Apr: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday expressed serious concern over a report of heavy involvement of ‘money culture’ in the run-up to the assembly elections.

Addressing a BJP rally here in Keyi Panyor district, he urged the people of Yachuli constituency to “help curb the money culture in the elections.”

“During the district inauguration, while addressing the people of Keyi Panyor, I had requested the people of Yachuli constituency to end money culture, as this menace started from here. But to my shock, I have got a report that money culture has gone to another level during this election in Yachuli.

“This is very sad. Development will suffer due to this,” he said.

The CM also urged the opposition candidates to “not fool people with the lure of government jobs.”

“I as a CM also cannot give government jobs to my people. How can an MLA candidate offer jobs to the voters? This kind of tactic of fooling people is very unfortunate and voters should not believe in such lies,” he added.

The CM also came down heavily on the opposition for trying to spread rumours about a rift in the BJP.

“Some opposition candidates who did not get a BJP ticket are claiming that they are part of Team B, C, etc, of the BJP. There is no truth to such claims. In Yachuli constituency, Taba Tedir is our candidate, and similarly, across the state, every BJP candidate is a candidate of the CM, the DCM, and the party. There should not be any confusion about it,” he added.

Khandu also urged the opposition to stop seeking votes in the name of religion. “Opposition parties are trying to mislead the Christian community by trying to portray the BJP as anti-Christian, and are using Christian organisations to seek votes of Christians. But I know that the people of the state will reject such religious politics and vote only for development-oriented leaders,” he said.

Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, who also addressed the rally, said that, after coming back to power, the BJP government would develop Keyi Panyor as a model district.

“We have a big plan for the future of Keyi Panyor, and hopefully, under the visionary leadership of Taba Tedir, Keyi Panyor will develop as a model district in the future,” he said.

CM Khandu, DCM Mein and newly elected Itanagar MLA Techi Kaso addressed the rally in support of BJP candidate Taba Tedir.