From joining politics as an anchal samiti member in 1980 to being the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh for the second time, ex-army officer Dorjee Khandu, a veteran of Bangladesh war, has come a long way.
Fifty-four-year-old Khandu was with the Indian Army Intelligence Corps for seven years and received a gold medal for rendering meritorious services during the Bangladesh War. He later turned his focus to social work in the far-flung villages where he arranged for drinking water supplies, electricity and communication and also set up schools.
This helped him consolidate his standing among the masses when he replaced Gegong Apang as chief minister of the state in 2007. He led a cultural troupe to 1982 ASIAD in Delhi from Tawang his home district which won a silver medal.
Khandu, a Buddhist with little formal education, was elected uncontested to the First Legislative of Arunachal Pradesh in March, 1990 from the Mukto constituency. He was re-elected to the second Legislative Assembly in March, 1995 from the same constituency and was given the portfolio of minister of State for Cooperation.
In 1996 he was elevated to the cabinet rank and given Animal Husbandry & Veterinary, Dairy Development department. In 1999 he was elected to the Third Legislative Assembly and became the power minister.
Khandu revolted against Apang in 2007. When the Congress high command first refused to accept Khandu as a replacement for Apang as chief minister, one of a few states where Congress is in power sans coalition, he went to New Delhi with most party legislators and stayed put for 10 days till the AICC leaders relented.
After taking over as the chief minister, he promised to reopen the state-owned APEX Cooperative bank having 32 branches across the state lying defunct for two years after an over Rs200 crore loan scam was unearthed. Within few weeks, Khandu secured a loan of Rs225 crore from PSU power major NHPC and invested it into the bank, enabling it to reopen, much to the relief of lakhs of depositors who were mostly poor locals.
His popularity grew further when he forced the central government to open the FIC regional head office here and godowns deep inside the state to check pilferage of PDS commodities. The Rs24,000-crore special package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on January 31 last year made Khandu's popularity soar even further.
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