Even as Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has asked Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jarbom Gamlin to set his house in order and sort out the squabbles within the Congress Legislature Party (CLP),the crisis continued for the fifth day on Sunday with a section of Congress legislators adamant on removing Gamlin. A change is now inevitable. We have already projected senior Congress leader Nabam Tuki as our leader, state Public Health Minister Chowna Mein,who is leading the dissidence,told The Indian Express. Mein had earlier claimed that he was abducted by some unidentified persons in Itanagar last Monday. Mein,currently camping in New Delhi along with several other legislators opposed to Gamlin,also said the majority of the Congress legislators were now against Gamlin and wanted PWD minister Nabam Tuki as chief minister. The Congress has 42 legislators in the 60-member Arunachal Assembly,with Gamlins detractors claiming that they have a strength of close to 35 members. While crisis has been brewing in the CLP in Itanagar since the death of former chief minister Dorjee Khandu in a helicopter crash in May this year,it came to the open earlier during the week with Chowna Mein complaining that he was kidnapped in the state capital while he was on an evening stroll last Monday. Mein even claimed that he was whisked away to the Chief Ministers bungalow and was let off only at Gamlins intervention. Gamlin,however,has denied this and said he was not aware of any kidnapping. It is completely wrong. These allegations were made by Chowna Mein in New Delhi. I was completely taken aback. I myself dropped him at his house on Monday evening. Till then,there was no complaint regarding abduction. Yesterday,he (Mein) filed an FIR,but that can be an afterthought. But at that point of time when he met me and next day also there was no such complaint, Gamlin said. Most Congress ministers and legislators have since shifted to the national capital,while Gamlin himself flew to New Delhi on Thursday as the crisis deepened. They have already met Chidambaram and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and are now waiting for an audience with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
