Pema Khandu (born 21 August 1979) is an Indian politician and the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh. He is son of former

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

of Arunachal

Pradesh Pradesh refers to a province or territory in various South Asian languages. It derives from the Sanskrit प्रदेश ''pradeśa'', meaning "sub-region" or "sub-country". The same word was borrowed into: * Thai as ประเทศ ''prat ...

Dorjee Khandu. Since assuming office of chief minister in July 2016, he and his government have twice changed their party affiliation; in September from the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

to the

Peoples Party of Arunachal Peoples Party of Arunachal, a regional political party in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It was founded in September 1977 by Bakin Pertin, Oken Lego and L. Wanglat as president, Vice President and General Secretary of the party. Tomo ...

, and then in December 2016 to the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

. Previously he had served as Minister of Tourism, Urban Development and Water Resources in Nabam Tuki's government.

Personal life

Khandu is the eldest son of former Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, who died in a helicopter accident on 30 April 2011 on a constituency visit to Tawang. He is a graduate from Hindu College (Delhi University). Khandu is a Buddhist by religion.

Career

Indian National Congress

Post his father's death, Khandu was included in the state government as Cabinet Minister for Water Resource Development and Tourism. He won the by election to his father's constituency uncontested Mukto on 30 June 2011 as an

candidate. Khandu became a secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee in 2005 and the Tawang District Congress Committee president in 2010. He was elected Congress Legislature Party leader on 16 July 2016 replacing Nabam Tuki. Khandu was re-elected unopposed from Mukto in the

2014 Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election The Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, 2014 took place on 9 April 2014 along with the parliamentary election 2014. The votes were counted on 16 May 2014. The election was held in the state for all 60 seats of the Arunachal Pradesh ...

. Khandu took the oath as the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh on 17 July 2016 at the age of 36 years following a year-long

political crisis Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

Peoples Party of Arunachal

On 16 September 2016, 43 MLAs from the ruling party, under the CM Pema Khandu, defected from

to People's Party of Arunachal, an ally of

Bharatiya Janata Party

On 21 December 2016 in a high octane drama Khandu was suspended from the party by the party president and Takam Pario was named as the next likely Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh replacing Khandu after People's Party of Arunachal suspended Khandu along with 6 other MLAs. In December 2016, Khandu proved majority on the floor of the house with 33 of the People's Party of Arunachal’s 43 legislators joining the

as the BJP increased its strength to 45 with support of two independents as it had 11 MLAs already. He became second Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh of

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It share ...

after 44 days Gegong Apang led government in 2003. In

2019 Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Arunachal Pradesh on April 11 to elect the 60 members of Legislative Assembly. The term of Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly ends on June 1, 2019. This results in a landslide victory for Bharatiya ...

, Khandu won a landslide victory for

by winning 41 of 60 seats and its allies

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal P ...

with 7 states and National People's Party won 4 seats. Khandu took oath as Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister on 29 May 2019.

Football

Khandu also serves as the President of the Arunachal Pradesh Football Association since 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khandu, Pema People from Tawang district Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Arunachal Pradesh Chief ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh Chief ministers from People's Party of Arunachal Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 2014–2019 People's Party of Arunachal politicians Living people 1979 births Indian Buddhists 20th-century Buddhists 21st-century Buddhists Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 2009–2014 Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 2019–2024 Indian football executives