The arrest of Gegong Apang in multi-crore rupees hill transport subsidy scam has caste a shadow over the fate of the Dorjee Khandu government in Arunachal Pradesh with non-Buddhist camp of Congress leaders polarising and approaching AICC seeking intervention in alleged vindictive step of their own government.
Apang, who belongs to Donyi-Polo sect, which is the dominant tribal community of the frontier state, is in the custody of the special investigation cell.
Disclosing that AICC was actively considering the name of veteran Congress leader Gegong Apang for PCC chief before his arrest, the insiders in Arunachal Congress said that chief minister Dorjee Khandu played the master-stroke by allowing the special investigation cell to arrest his arch rival Gegong Apang, in order to stop his detractors from bouncing back to limelight.
However, the chief minister has been denying the reports, claiming that SIC was probing the scam independently at the directive of the court.
The arrest of Apang seems to have opened the Pandora’s box with many of former Cabinet colleagues of Apang accusing the present government of being involved in many scams allegedly masterminded in league with an industrialist from Assam. Moreover, New Delhi is also worried over soft paddling of insurgency issues by the Khandu government despite having the specific inputs on sizeable presence of NSCN rebels who are also facilitating shelter to insurgents of Assam in the state. The Naga rebels, who are extorting a huge amount of fund from the frontier state as share in various government schemes, are allowed to have a free run, which also came to light in a border dispute with Assam recently. The home ministry is also worried about the role of Naga rebels in the politics of the frontier state.
The opponents of the Khandu government are also referring to more than Rs 150 crore-transport subsidy claimed by a particular industrial group of the frontier state in which CBI and Enforcement Directorate has started a preliminary investigation.
In fact hills transport subsidy scam, being probed by the SIC, has also started causing anxiety among senior Congress leaders of the state as role of few ministers of the present government is also under the scanner.