Wanglat predicts tough fight

Itanagar, March 20: Former Arunachal Pradesh home minister Lowangcha Wanglat, who left the Congress last week, today predicted a tough fight for Congress candidate Ninong Ering.

Ering, he said, lacked mass base in Tirap, Changlang and Lohit districts, inhabited by more than two-thirds of the total electorate of Arunachal East.

Wanglat said he would fight on an Arunachal Congress ticket under the banner of the Arunachal Democratic Alliance (ADA), a conglomeration of six political parties — the Peoples’ Party of Arunachal, Arunachal Congress, Janata Dal (United), Lok Bharati and Lok Janashakti Party.

“I vow to fight my opponent Ninong Ering, who lacks mass base in the Tirap, Changlang and Lohit districts, which is my bastion. Changlang, Lohit and my native district Tirap have more than two of the three lakh voters in Arunachal East. I have the unconditional support of the voters of Tirap and Changlang, which have been demanding Patkai Autonomous Council, for long. Unlike Ering, I will not fight with money but with the people’s support. I am confident of giving a crushing defeat to my opponents, the Congress’s Ninong Ering and the BJP’s Tapir Gao,” he said.

“I have been denied a ticket by the Congress seven times and was deeply hurt when the party did not oblige this time too. This is a must-win situation for me and I am well aware of it as a defeat in the polls will mark the end of my career,” he added.

Wanglat lashed out at the state and the UPA government for their failure to check the ongoing clashes between the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) and Khaplang factions.

ADA chairman Aath Tacho Kabak said his forum would field Bida Taku of Lok Janshakti Party from Arunachal West.

The other two candidates from the constituency are BJP candidate Kiren Rijiju and Congress candidate Takam Sanjoy.