Arunachal West Lok Sabha constituency in the hill state is all set for an interesting battle this Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress has pitted party veteran and former chief minister Nabam Tuki in Arunachal West Lok Sabha constituency which is represented by senior BJP leader and union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju.
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Although the BJP is yet to announce its Lok Sabha candidates, sitting MP Rijiju is likely to contest from the seat. State BJP president Tapir Gao’s name is doing the rounds for the Arunachal East Lok sabha constituency, which was being held by Congress leader Ninong Ering at present.
Ering, however, is likely to return to state politics this time and already decided to contest from Pasighat west constituency in the assembly polls, which are being held simultaneously in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Congress had declared candidature of former state minister, James Lowangcha Wanglet in Arunachal Pradesh East Lok Sabha constituency.
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While Tuki was the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh from 2011 to 2016, Wanglet had in the past served the state as home, finance and civil supplies minister.
Wanglet hails from the royal family known as the Lowang’s of Namsang-Borduria. He is also the founder general secretary of Peoples’ Party of Arunachal, a regional political party.
Wanglet was elected four times to the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
A seasoned politician, Tuki replaced Jarbom Gamlin as the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh on November 1, 2011 and continued till January 2016.
However, after a political crisis in 2016, the President’s Rule was imposed ending his tenure as the chief minister.
Tuki was first elected to the second legislative assembly in 1995 and served as the deputy agriculture minister in the Gegong Apang ministry.
Later he served as transport and civil aviation minister in 1998. He was re-elected to the assembly in 1999 and became a cabinet minister with the environment and forest portfolio in the chief minister Mukut Mithi’s ministry.
Tuki was re-elected in the 2004 assembly election and 2009 assembly elections and served as the PWD and urban development minister under the Gegong Apang and Dorjee Khandu ministries.