Thaindian News

Itanagar, May 5 (IANS) Described as one of the best performing chief ministers in the mountainous state of Arunachal Pradesh, 56-year-old Dorjee Khandu’s death has created a void, not only politically, but as a personal loss for many of his cabinet colleagues.

“I would say he was one the best chief ministers ever in Arunachal, a person who I would describe as a visionary leader,” Jarbom Gamlin, the state power minister, said.

A Buddhist, Khandu’s initiation into politics came late in life - he was in the Indian Army’s Intelligence Corps and served for more than seven years and had the distinction of receiving a medal for meritorious intelligence services rendered during the 1971 Bangladesh War.

His initiation into politics was only in 1990 when he was elected uncontested to the first legislative assembly of Arunachal Pradesh, which attained statehood in 1989, from the Thingbu-Mukto constituency.

In March 1995, he was re-elected from the same constituency and became the minister of state for cooperation.

On April 9, 2007, he became the chief minister by replacing Gegong Apang.

In 2009, he was again elected unopposed from the same constituency and sworn in as the chief minister of the state for the second time and continued in that post until April 30, when his helicopter went missing in the dizzy heights of Arunachal Pradesh along the Sela Pass.

Married to four wives with six children, Khandu will be remembered for his work on building road infrastructure and giving a new boost to the power sector in the state.

“He was one who launched a massive project to construct roads criss-crossing the state, besides trying to transform Arunachal into India’s power hub,” Home Minister Tako Dabi said.

His body is yet to be retrieved with search teams unable, due to the rugged terrain coupled with heavy snowfall in the area, to bring back the remains of Khandu and the four others who died in the crash.