ITANAGAR, Oct 19 ? Both the newly-elected Nationalist Congress Party legislators in Arunachal Pradesh have requested party president Sharad Pawar to ensure that they were given ministerial berths in the Gegong Apang ministry. The two legislators, Nikh Kamin and T Wanwham accompanied by Arunachal Pradesh party unit president Kabak Tacho, made the request when they called on Pawar at his New Delhi residence.
Tacho told PTI over phone from Delhi that they had asked Pawar to talk to the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in this regard. He said that the spirit of coalition between the NCP and the Congress as a partner of the UPA government at the Centre and also in Maharashtra should be true for Arunachal Pradesh.
Tacho said that the talks between the ?top leadership? of the two parties on the issue were on and the final outcome would be known in a day or two. After taking oath as the Chief Minister on October 16, Geong Apang had not ruled out the possibility of giving ministerial berths to non-Congress MLAs subject to the approval of Sonia Gandhi.
APCC president Mukut Mithi, on the other hand, had dismissed the NCP?s claim saying that the Congress with 34 legislators had a comfortable majority in the 60-member state Assembly. Therefore, the question of accommodating the non-Congress MLAs in the ministry did not arise.