Days after the Congress in Arunachal Pradesh announced an alliance with the Peoples' Party of Arunachal (PPA), the regional party on Saturday said it would maintain equal distance from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"Both the BJP and the Congress have earlier poached our MLAs. We are sceptic of forging an alliance with them," PPA Chairman Kamen Ringu said on Saturday. Ringu said the PPA would contest all the seats on its own.

"We appeal to the young and uncorrupted youth of the state to join our party. We want the young people to come out and join our party to help build a better Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

While two PPA legislators joined the Congress in December last year, in 2016, led by Pema Khandua 33 of the 43 PPA legislators joined the BJP and formed a BJP-led government in the state.

Ringu said the party had temporarily suspended its President Kahfa Bengia and Secretary General Kaling Jerang for some casual discussions with the Congress, which led to media reports earlier this week about an alliance between the PPA and the Congress.

The Lok Sabha and Assembly polls will be held simultaneously in Arunachal Pradesh in the first phase on April 11.

--IANS

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