Speaker holds key to Tuki’s survival as Arunachal Chief Minister

While the Congress, citing the Supreme Court order, which has restored status quo ante as on December 15, 2015, wants “impeached” Speaker Nabam Rebia to preside, the rebel Congressmen and BJP wants the present Speaker Wangki Lowang to hold fort.

With acting governor Tathagata Roy refusing relief to Tuki, who had sought 10 days time for trust vote, Congress has now decided to operate a plan wherein they would disqualify the 30 rebels MLAs. With Rebia in chair, Tuki can then push for getting trust vote passed in the 60-member House whose strength would be reduced to 30. Ousted Chief Minister Kalikho Pul has already demonstrated support of 30 Congress rebels, 11 BJP MLAs and 2 independents.

This group of 43 MLAs is currently lodged in a hotel in Guwahati, where Himanta Biswa Sarma, a former Congressman who switched to the BJP and helped the party win the Assam election, has been given charge to chalk out the strategy to win the confidence vote. The Congress on the other hand, cites the Supreme Court order which ruled that a series of decisions taken between December 2015 and March 2016, which included placing Arunachal Pradesh under President’s Rule, were illegal. The judges set the clock back to when Tuki headed the government.

Armed with the Apex Court order, chief minister Tuki has called a meeting of the legislature party ahead of the trust vote and plans to disqualify all those rebels to fail to show up for the meeting. “With Rebia in the chair, it should not be very difficult to carry the day,” said a Congress leader privy to party’s strategy in Itanagar. Tuki and Rebia are from the same tribe.

It may be recalled that Speaker Nabam Rebia was “impeached” on December 15 last year in a make-shift “Assembly” premises at a conference hall. The opposition and rebel Congress MLAs had met at the hall of a hotel in Itanagar as the Assembly premises had been sealed on the orders of Nabam Rebia. The seal of the assembly was opened only after the short period of President’s rule when a government headed by Kalikho Pul was sworn in.

The impeachment of Speaker was followed by another controversial proceeding marked by high drama, where Opposition BJP and rebel Congress MLAs got together to show “no confidence” in the Nabam Tuki-led Congress government and “chose” a rebel Congress MLA as the new “chief minister”.