Pema Khandu becomes Arunachal Pradesh’s 2nd longest-serving CM after Gegong Apang
Khandu assumed office as the Chief Minister of the state on July 17, 2016 and has retained the position since, completing 8 years.
ITANAGAR- Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu became the longest-serving chief minister of the state after former Chief Minister Gegong Apang.
Khandu assumed office as the Chief Minister of the state on July 17, 2016 and has retained the position since, completing 8 years.
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Khandu has been the Chief Minister for the last 2 times and with the landslide victory in 2024 Assembly elections, he took charge of the state as Chief Minister for the third consecutive time.
Gegong Apang, on the other hand, served as the 3rd CM of the state from January 18, 1980 to January 19, 1999 and again from August 2003 to April 2007. He is a member of the Janata Dal (Secular) and was a member of the Indian National Congress before 2016.
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Pema Khandu is the youngest Chief Minister of India, who took charge as CM at the age of 37. Before Khandu, Akhilesh Yadav was the only CM who became CM at the youngest age. When Akhilesh Yadav took over the reins of UP for the first time, he was 38 years old at that time.
Pema Khandu, the eldest son of former Arunachal Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, completed his graduation from Hindu College, Delhi. Khandu joined Congress in the early 2000s. He was made the General Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee in 2005 and the President of Tawang District Congress Committee in 2010.
But the real political journey started when his father Dorjee Khandu died in a helicopter accident. After this, Pema contested the 2011 elections from his father’s assembly constituency Mukto.
In September 2016, Pema Khandu, while being the CM of Arunachal, rebelled against the Congress along with 43 MLAs. After this, he joined BJP’s ally PPA. However, in December 2016, he was shown the way out of the party by the PPA. After this, Pema Khandu joined BJP along with 43 MLAs.
After joining BJP, in 2019, BJP formed the government in Arunachal Pradesh under the leadership of Pema Khandu. In 2024, once again BJP government is being formed in Arunachal under the leadership of Pema Khandu.
During his tenure as Chief Minister, Khandu launched several campaigns for the citizens of Arunachal Pradesh.
He launched the ‘Arunachal Rising Abhiyan’ to highlight the major programs of the state and the Center at the grassroots level. As a government initiative for public outreach and grievance redressal, he started the ‘Sarkar Aapke Dwar’ initiative in the state.
