Tezpur, Nov. 2: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee today gave an ultimatum to the state government after staging a two-hour protest against the government for allegedly not approving the resignation of its nominee, Lapalum Kri, for the Hayuliang Assembly constituency seat, the byelection to which will be held on November 19.

The bypoll for the constituency in Anjaw district was necessitated after the suicide of former chief minister Kalikho Pul on August 9.

The state government has been holding the resignation letter of Kri, who is a chief engineer (public health engineering department and water supply) since September 5. Unless the state government accepts his resignation, the candidate is not eligible to contest the bypoll.

The PCC submitted a six-point memorandum to state chief secretary Shakuntala Gamlin mentioning that Kri, who is a nominee for byelection of 45 Hayuliang (ST) Assembly constituency, had submitted his resignation from the post of chief engineer on September 5 to avail voluntarily retirement but the chief secretary was in Delhi on an official visit.

The PCC mentioned in the memorandum that despite all their efforts, the government did not pay any heed and withheld the file in the office of the chief minister till this period. It also mentioned that with no option left, Kri had filed a petition in the Itanagar bench of Gauhati High Court for passing of necessary directives to the government for early approval of the request.

More than 500 party workers, from different places of the state capital and Naharlagul, gathered at Rajiv Bhawan this morning and marched to the civil secretariat office and staged a dharna from 10am to 11.30am.

Talking to The Telegraph, PCC president Padi Richo said the party has decided to stage a hunger strike at Indira Gandhi Park in Itanagar tomorrow from 9am to 5pm if their demands were not met till this evening.

Arunachal Pradesh government spokesperson P.D. Sona told The Telegraph that there is a pending court case vide WP(C) No. 6404/2016 in Gauhati High Court and the matter pertaining to Kri's voluntary retirement is sub-judice before the court. "The government needs to wait for the outcome of the said court case before taking any decision," he said.

Four candidates have filed their nominations - Dasanglu Pul (BJP), Kompi Kri (Independent), Lapalum Kri (INC) and Kontso Kri (Independent).