Itanagar: Jarbom Gamlin was on Thursday night sworn in
as Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh replacing Dorjee Khandu
who was killed in a helicopter crash.
Gamlin, 50, who was Power Minister in Khandu cabinet,
was administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor J J
Singh at the Raj Bhavan.
A student of history and law of Delhi University, he
was one of the front runners for the chief minister`s post as
a CLP meeting earlier in the day authorised Congress President
Sonia Gandhi to choose the new leader.
Other contenders were Arunachal Pradesh Congress
Committee (APCC) president and PWD Minister Nabam Tuki,
Finance Minister Setong Sena and RWD Minister Kalikho Pul.
A CLP meeting, at which top Congress leaders, including
union ministers BK Handique, V Narayansamy, Mukul Wasnik and
Salman Khursheed were present, failed to arrive at a consensus
and sent a one-line resolution to the Congress President to
choose the CLP leader.
A senior party leader said on condition of anonymity
that Congress legislators were interviewed individually
by top leaders, including Handique, Narayansamy, Wasnik and
Khursheed.
Earlier in the day indication of the installation of a
new chief minister came from Home Minister P Chidambaram who
told reporters in Delhi that the state Governor had been asked
to take "necessary consequential steps".
The swearing in of Gamlin, a leader of powerful All
Arunachal Pradesh Students Union in early 1980s, came several
hours after the body of Khandu, who died in the copter crash
along with four others in Tawang district, arrived here.
PTI
