GUWAHATI: Former Arunachal chief minister Nabam Tuki said the charges levelled against him by his successor the late Kalikho Pul in the latter’s purported 60-page suicide notes “Mere Vichaar” (My Thoughts) stemmed from his frustration after he was unseated during power struggle last year.
On Wednesday, a news portal made public the contents of the notes where Pul’s accusations about embezzlement of funds to the tune of crores of rupees were particularly against Tuki, former chief minister the late Dorjee Khandu and Khandu’s son and incumbent chief minister Pema Khandu.
So far, nobody has contested the contents of the notes leaked. Quoting sources, local daily Arunachal Times reported on Wednesday that there were around 10 copies of “My Vichaar”.
The report said one of them was sent to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one was with one of the officers in special duty who worked with Pul, three copies were with his wives and the rest were under magisterial/police custody.
While Pema Khandu chose not to react Tuki said there was no truth in the charges against him. He said these were “general” and “politically-motivated” allegations.
“The allegations against me are totally baseless. The people of Arunachal know me and he (Pul) cannot write my certificate. He wrote against me as I had dropped him (from the ministry),” Tuki said.
“These are not suicide notes per se. He talked about his life, family, political career etc. He alleged politicians, government officers, police and judiciary are all corrupt and only he is clean. How is it possible? If there were wrongs everywhere, he should have lived and corrected them. If he was so clean and a godly man, he should not have died. The fact of the matter is he wrote the notes out of frustration as the Supreme Court verdict had gone against him,” Tuki said.
After a bitter power tussle last year, Pul’s six-month-old government was ousted by the apex court, which had reinstated the Tuki government. However, Tuki too could not continue in the hot seat as most Congress MLAs had sided with Khandu. Later, Khandu and all other MLAs merged with People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA).
However, just a few months later, they all merged with BJP, effectively making it a saffron party government. Pul was found dead in his official bungalow within days after losing power.