ITANAGAR, Feb 28 � In a major reshuffle today ahead of the elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assembly in Arunachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Nabam Tuki dropped three Ministers, including Planning and Finance Minister Chowna Mein, for their alleged dissidence, and inducted three others, two of them new faces, in his 28-month-old Congress Government.
Besides Chowna Mein, the other two who were sacked from the Ministry were Transport Minister Jarkar Gamlin, elder brother of former Chief Minister Jarbom Gamlin and Health & Family Welfare Minister Atum Welly.
Those who were inducted in the Ministry included senior MLA from Hayuliang constituency Kalikho Pul, Kumar Waii from Bameng and Gojen Gadi from Basar seat.
The newly-inducted Ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma in a brief ceremony at the Darbar Hall of Raj Bhawan here this morning in the presence of Tuki and some of his Ministerial colleagues and top-ranking State Government officers. Among others, Speaker Wanglin Lowangdong, Deputy Speaker Jomde Kena and Lok Sabha MP Takam Sanjoy were present on the occasion.
Allocation of portfolios to the newly-inducted Ministers is likely to be made in the evening today, according to the CM.
