I Followed My Heart, Kalikho Pul Said Just Weeks Ago

After capturing the moment on my phone, I tweeted the photo with the caption  "Nabam Tuki and Kalikho Pul, after toppling each other's government, sitting next to  each other @Arunachal swearing in."

I didn't add the word "happily" not just because 140 characters didn't allow me to. Pul was clearly upset that things had not gone as per his plan and he was forced to return to the Congress party after the July 13 Supreme Court order that termed his appointment as Chief Minister "illegal."

"I always follow my heart, and I did what I thought was right. Now I am following the court orders," Pul told reporters at the swearing-in of the new Arunachal government.

This seemed a complete reversal of what he declared at a press conference just three days earlier.

On July 14, a day after the top court's verdict, Pul held a press conference in Guwahati. In attendance were 40 other law makers including 30 Congress rebels and 11 BJP lawmakers.

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In an assembly of 60 members, Pul had a clear majority. And he underscored this point repeatedly at the press conference.

"Democracy is run by numbers and majority are with us. His Excellency, the Governor, has asked Mr Nabam Tuki to the take a floor test and we will prove it,"said Pul and added: "We know that the next two days are going to be dramatic but it will only mean our return as victorious."

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Pul had been in politics for over two decades, serving earlier as a minister in the governments of Gegong Apang and Mukut Mithi. Till October 2015, when he revolted, he was a part  of Tuki's cabinet  as Finance Minister. For over nine months, he led the Congress rebellion that then enabled him to serve as Chief Minister, backed by the BJP, from February to July.  

Then came the  top court order as  a major  setback but Pul was confident that he would win on the floor of the House.

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Arunachal Pradesh's officiating  Governor Tathagata Roy had fixed Saturday, July 16,  as the day when Nabam Tuki, who was restored as Chief Minister by Supreme Court,  would take a trust vote.

As Pul had predicted, there was drama. The cliched "twists" and "turn" of politics. Tuki met the Governor on Friday asking  for "reasonable" time.  Nabam Rebia, then the Speaker of the Assembly, declared to the media that "the trust vote can't be held at such short notice."  These were seen as moves by the Congress to gather its law-makers to ensure it won the trust vote.

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But the real drama started on Friday evening as the Congress "managed" to "persuade" 20 of the lawmakers return to the party.  In exchange, the party agreed to  replace Tuki with a nominee of their choice -  Pema Khandu, 37, was  sworn in as the new Chief Minister and Pul was now left a "lonely man" according to a senior Congress minister who asked not to be named. 

His diary, taken by the police today after he was found hanging from a ceiling fan at the Chief Minister's residence (he had not yet vacated it),  is expected to offer clues to that loneliness.