In a surprising move, the state government on Wednesday appointed 22 members of legislative assembly (MLA) of the ruling BJP as advisors to the ministers, and three BJP leaders as advisors to the chief minister. The move comes even as the state is facing serious financial issues. The government has stopped fresh tender of works and contractors regularly keep crying for payment. Chief Minister Pema Khandu tried to douse the fire of criticism by claiming that these appointments would have no financial implication whatsoever on the state exchequer.
However, there is no doubt that these appointments will definitely create a financial burden on the government of Arunachal. Further, it will lead to more chaos in various government departments. The MLAs will definitely try to interfere in the functioning of the departments for their own benefits. The officials will have a harrowing time in managing the departments. Also, if there is no coordination between an advisor and the minister concerned, it is going to hurt the functioning of the department. The appointment of advisors is similar to earlier appointments of parliamentary secretaries (PS). The PS’ were scrapped after legal intervention. At that time also, it was claimed that the PS’ would have no financial implication, but they did enjoy immense power. Most of them yielded power equivalent to the ministers.