Arunachal Pradesh BJP denies reports of replacing Chief Minister Pema Khandu New Delhi, January 7 (AGENCIES): Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Friday said that the BJP would succeed in forming the government in Manipur, which will go to polls in March. "I am sure that BJP will form a government in Manipur," Khandu told IANS on the sidelines of BJP's National Executive meet in the city. He noted that there was not a single BJP-ruled state in the region before Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014. "Due to Prime Minister, who is visionary and dynamic leader, people of Asom decided to go with BJP. In Arunachal Pradesh, people are with BJP. So people of Manipur are making up their mind to go with BJP," Khandu added. He said he supported the idea of simultaneous elections, which may help huge spending on frequent elections to be used for development instead. He declined to comment on activist Irom Sharmila's political debut. Khandu added that issues such as demonetisation and recent political developments were discussed in the National Executive meet. Meanwhile, the Arunachal Pradesh Unit of BJP on Saturday denied any move to replace incumbent Chief Minister Pema Khandu as speculated in a section of media. “Pema Khandu enjoys absolute support of 47 BJP and 2 Independent MLAs in the 60 member House. The state BJP endorsed full support to the leadership of Khandu,” state BJP President Tapir Gao in a statement said. According to report in a national daily, Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju’s name is doing the rounds as the next possible Chief Minister of the state. State BJP President Tapir Gao is also said to be in the race, the report stated. The BJP national executive led by National President Amit Shah and the North East in-charge Ram Madhav have pledged absolute faith in the leadership of Khandu as the Chief Minister of the BJP led government in Arunachal Pradesh. Tapir Gao said that there is absolutely no question of replacing Khandu who enjoys full support of entire BJP party. “We in BJP do not have culture of high command replacing the political leadership in the state. The speculations so made and printed by some media houses are pure rumours that are being spread by political opponents who are playing anoutdated political trick to confuse people and to vent out their sheer frustration,” he claimed. Gao further appealed to the media to be more sensible in bringing out such news items by properly verifying and authenticating the source as it creates a sense of political insecurity in the state which has seen so much of political turmoil in the recent past.
