ITANAGAR, May 15 – Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang of the BJP has said “underestimating opposition” by the National Democratic Alliance leaders and their “over- confidence” were responsible for defeat of the alliance, reports PTI. Asked to comment on the defeat of the BJP-led NDA, Apang told PTI that preponing of elections following BJP’s victory in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, selection of ‘ineffective’ candidates and too much stress on the ‘feel good’ factor and ‘India shining’ campaign were also responsible for the outcome, which he labelled as “disastrous, but expected.”
“Too much of anything is bad” he said, adding promises made were not kept. There was no “feel good” factor in rural areas and the masses remained backward. The Chief Minister said the gap between ‘haves and have nots’ had widened instead of narrowing. “Therefore, the politically conscious people voted in a manner that turned all poll predictions topsy turvy,” he added.
Apang said Arunachal was a sensitive border state which had suffered due to negligence of the Centre in the past. The imbalances created in its development because of this should be removed by the Central Government by giving special attention to the state. One of the two newly elected BJP Lok Sabha members from the state, Khiren Rijiju said that his win with a huge margin would not have been possible without the active support of the Chief Minister and his council of ministers.
Through this Lok Sabha election, the people put a seal of approval on the BJP government of the state which was formed with the MLAs elected on Congress and Arunachal Congress tickets who crossed over to BJP in August 2003 to form the first saffron ministry in the North-east. Replying to a question he said the Chakma-Hajong refugees should not be allowed to stay in Arunachal permanently and he would raise the issue in Parliament and take it up seriously with the Centre.