Gegong Apang is an Indian politician from

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 shares ...

. He served as Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh from 18 January 1980 to 19 January 1999 and again from August 2003 to April 2007. Apang is Arunachal Pradesh's longest serving Chief Minister and also the third longest serving head of government of an Indian state after

Pawan Kumar Chamling Pawan Kumar Chamling (born 22 September 1949) is an Indian politician and the former Chief Minister of Sikkim. Chamling is the Founding President of the Sikkim Democratic Front, which governed the state for five successive terms since 1994. C ...

of Sikkim and Jyoti Basu of West Bengal as of 2019.

Political career

Gegong Apang started his political career as a member of the Congress Pradesh Council between 1972 and 1975 after passing out from JN College, Pasighat. He became the member of the first provisional Assembly between 1975-1978 and served as its agriculture minister in 1977. He was also elected to the first Legislative Assembly of the state in the year 1978 and was appointed its PWD and agriculture minister. Apang won the 1978, 1980 and 1984 assembly elections from Yingkiong-Pangin Assembly Constituency. Later he won the 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2004 assembly elections from Upper Siang district's Tuting-Yingkiong Assembly Constituency of Arunachal Pradesh. Apang was chosen as Chief Minister for first time on 18 January 1980, after getting elected to the assembly for second time. He held the office until 1999, when he resigned, triggered by a no-confidence motion by a split in the

Congress Party 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 Em ...

. He was elected leader of the newly formed United Democratic Front, a coalition of his own political party, the Arunachal Congress and several others, in 2003. Only a few months later, Apang and his supporting

MLAs The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) was a proposed alternative to the Maxime Faget-invented "tractor" launch escape system (LES) that was planned for use by NASA for its Orion spacecraft in the event an Ares I malfunction during launch requir ...

merged with 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 ...

, the first time the BJP had ever ruled a state in north-eastern India. A few months after the BJP led

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a centre-right to right-wing and conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded in 1998 and currently controls the government of In ...

lost the 2004 general election, Apang returned to 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 E ...

. In October 2004, Congress won the majority in state assembly election, making Apang return as the Chief Minister. He was in office as Chief Minister till 9 April 2007, when Congress MLAs revolted against his leadership under Dorjee Khandu, who succeeded him as chief minister and Congress Legislature Party leader. Mr.Apang, out of four terms as Chief Minister, headed Congress Government for three terms and one term from Arunachal Congress, regional party floated by him in 1996, after differences with the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao over his demand for deportation of the Chakma-Hajong refugees from the tribal state. Apang resigned from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress on 17 February 2014 (party sources said) and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 20 February 2014 prior to Indian general election and Arunachal Pradesh legislative assembly election. On 15 January 2019 he resigned from primary membership of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by saying that "BJP now platform to seek power." . He joined Janata dal (Secular).

Corruption charges

Apang was arrested on 24 August 2010 for alleged involvement in 1000 crore Public Distribution System scam. Apang denied the charges and claimed they are politically motivated, though the government under Chief Minister

Dorjee Khandu Dorjee Khandu (19 March 1955 – 30 April 2011) was an Indian politician who served as Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh. He was re elected in 2009 Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections. Personal life ;Early life Dorjee Khandu was b ...

maintained that the investigation was conducted independently without political interference. The scam allegedly involves fraudulent hill transport subsidy bills that were paid without the required financial oversight while he was the chief minister.

Personal life

Apang was born on January 10, 1947, at Karko village in Upper Siang district. Apang is from Yingkiong, the headquarters of

Upper Siang Upper Siang (Pron:/ˈsjæŋ or ˈsɪæŋ/) is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India. It is the fourth least populous district in the country (out of 640). History The majority of the people are of the Adi tribe ...

district in

. He has three wives. One of Apang's sons was kidnapped at gun point in June 2008. Later that month he returned home safely, an unknown person to the Apang family who claimed to be of the same clan of Yadap Apang (Apang's wife) kidnapped him.

References

External links

Apang returns to Congress
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Apang, Gegong 1949 births Living people Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh Chief ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party India MPs 1998–1999 People from Upper Siang district People from Yingkiong Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Arunachal Pradesh Janata Dal (Secular) politicians People's Party of Arunachal politicians Arunachal Congress politicians Janata Party politicians Indian National Congress politicians State cabinet ministers of Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 1978–1980 Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 1980–1984 Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 1984–1990 Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 1990–1995 Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 1995–1999 Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 1999–2004 Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 2004–2009