Lok Sabha elections 2019: BJP’s face in northeast Kiren Rijiju faces ex-CM
Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, the two-time member of Parliament, represents Arunachal West seat in the Lok Sabha. He will contest again from the same parliamentary constituency this year.
Kiren Rijiju has emerged as one of the most important faces of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the northeast since his appointment as the minister of state in the Union home ministry.
The two-time member of Parliament represents Arunachal West seat in the Lok Sabha. He will contest again from the same parliamentary constituency this year.
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Active on social media and one of government’s visible face on television news channels, Rijiju has been at the forefront pushing the BJP-led NDA government’s’ agenda and flaying its critics - from calling Rohingyas illegal immigrants to attacking the left-wing student activists in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
He has also been a regular to Arunachal Pradesh and other states of the northeast, attending political functions and festivals. Recently, he was seen riding a bicycle with Bollywood star Salman Khan.
The 47-year-old, who went to Hansraj College in Delhi University and later studied law at the Campus Law Centre, has had his share of controversies as well.
Read: All you need to know about Arunachal
In 2016, the then chief vigilance officer of North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Satish Verma gave report alleging corruption in the big-ticket 600 MW Kameng Hydro Electric Project in Rijiju’s constituency. Rijiju was accused of helping his cousin Goboi Rijiju, one of the sub-contractors in the project.
The minister had rejected the allegations and said anyone making such claims of corruption would be beaten up with slippers in Arunachal Pradesh.
He is facing Nabam Tuki of Congress, who is a former chief minister, making the fight difficult for him.
