Pranab Mukherjee Link in spells of Prez Rule in Arunachal

On Republic Day, Mukherjee gave his assent to PR the Union Cabinet recommended to the frontier state that China claims as its own. It ended the Nabam Tuki-led Congress government’s four-year run. The 66-year-old Apang, now a BJP leader, said there was no alternative to the imposition of PR because of gross financial mismanagement under Tuki. A Raj Bhavan memorandum further sought imposition of prohibitory order under section 144 of CrPC “wherever justified in the public interest” while disallowing shutdowns, road blocks and gheraos. The first PR ended with the installation of Apang’s Congress-I government on January 18, 1980. He went on to rule Arunachal Pradesh 19 years at a stretch, adding another 55 months as chief minister from August 3, 2003.