Pema Khandu will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh for the third consecutive term on Thursday at 11 a.m. This follows his unanimous election as the leader of the BJP legislature party during a meeting on Wednesday.
Top BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister JP Nadda, will attend the oath-taking ceremony of the 44-year-old CM-designate. Pema Khandu recently led the BJP to a landslide victory in the state assembly elections, securing 46 out of the 60 seats in the legislative assembly.
Pema Khandu, a prominent BJP figure in the northeastern state, began his political career in 2016 after the death of his father, former Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, in a helicopter crash in 2011. Contesting from his father’s seat in Mukto, he was elected unopposed.
He first assumed the role of Chief Minister in 2016, succeeding Nabam Tuki. In September of the same year, Pema Khandu and a group of Congress MLAs switched to the People’s Party of Arunachal, which led to him becoming the CM. By December, he and his group had rejoined the BJP.
Pema Khandu was re-elected from the Mukto seat in 2019, retaining his position as Chief Minister. Today, he will once again take the oath of office, marking his third consecutive term as the leader of Arunachal Pradesh.
