ITANAGAR, Oct 16 ? Gegong Apang heading the Congress today took oath as Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh for the seventh time, reports PTI. Apang (57) was the only person to be administered the oath of office by Governor V C Pande at the Raj Bhavan here.
The ceremony was attended by senior Congress leaders Mukut Mithi and L Wanglat, members of the CLP and independent MLAs but boycotted by the BJP, which had said Apang had betrayed the people of the State and the party by joining Congress at the 11th hour before the polls.
Later, speaking at a press conference, Apang did not give any specific date for the expansion of his ministry. He said he will meet party president Sonia Gandhi in a ?day or two? in New Delhi and submit a list of probable ministers for her approval and on getting clearance from her would announce it. Asked whether he had already prepared the list of probables, he said ?It is a secret.?
He, however, indicated there would be no post of a deputy chief minister in his cabinet. ?The general feeling among the newly elected Congress MLAs is against having a deputy chief minister.?
Apang did not rule out the inclusion of Arunachal Congress, a party which he himself had floated five years ago, NCP and independents, who had extended their support to him, in the ministry. ?Of course everything depends on Soniaji's approval,? he said.
Replying to a question, he said Arunachal had several tribal communities and should be regarded as an execeptional case so that the rule to limit the strength of the ministry to a maximum 12 was relaxed for better representation of all communities and parts of the state.
On whether he would make an attempt to surpass the record of Jyoti Basu as the longest-serving Chief Minister in the country, Apang, who has already ruled the strategic state for 20 years, said he was ?not in the race.? ?I have high regard for Basu, who is a great leader and I try to learn from his works,? he said.