Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Jarbom Gamlin on Monday submitted his resignation in order to authorise Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take a final decision in resolving the political stalemate in the state.
Mr Gamlin submitted his resignation to Arunachal Pradesh governor general (Retd.) J.J. Singh in presence of Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. Earlier, a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party passed a resolution authorising Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take a final decision on leadership issue. The three member team of observers, comprising Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, former DoNER minister B.K. Handique and general secretary and in-charge of Arunachal Pradesh Dhaniram Shandil, were present in the meeting which was attended by 40 legislators at Itanagar.
In order to end the stalemate, the AICC had asked the chief minister Jarbom Gamlin to hold CLP meet in which 21 legislators stood by chief minister while 21 legislators are said to have been supporting PCC chief Nabam Tuki. A section of the Congress legislators led by dissident leader Tuki are demanding a change in leadership. There are 42 Congress legislators in the state, which has a 60-member Assembly. The rift between Mr Tuki and Mr Gamlin has been rocking the state for more than a month now which has divided the ruling party along ethnic lines. Mr Gamlin was sworn in as the chief minister on May 5 after the death of former chief minister Dorjee Khandu in a chopper crash on April 30 this year.
The Congress legislators present in the meeting told this newspaper that hectic parley was on as both the camps are claiming the support of equal number of legislators. In the meantime, legislators of Mr Gamlin camp are said to have expressed deep anguish over the role of two observers who were alleged to have been trying to persuade legislators from Mr Gamlin’s camp to support Mr Tuki. However, AICC observers succeeded in handling the situation as Mr Gamlin readily agreed to step down expressing his full faith in the leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The Congress MP Sanjay Takam was also present at Rajbhwan where AICC observers were staying. The Congress legislature party is likely to meet on Tuesday to elect a new leader.