New Delhi: Amid growing calls for the resignation of Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu after the Supreme Court ordered a Centra Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged corruption charges against his family, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in the state have defended Khandu and said that the question of a leadership change doesn’t arise.Arunachal Pradesh BJP chief Kaling Moyong has said that the party would “fully respect the judicial process” and won’t take any decision until the probe concludes, reported Economic Times.On April 6, the Supreme Court had ordered a preliminary probe by the CBI into the allegations against the Arunachal Pradesh Government for awarding public contracts to companies owned by relatives of CM Khandu.According to petitioners who approached the Supreme Court, the Arunachal Pradesh government carried out procurement and awarded works illegally and arbitrarily to Khandu, his brother and his stepmother as well as to their close political associates.Works worth Rs 1,270 crore were awarded between 2015 and 2025 to four firms linked either to Khandu – who became chief minister in 2016 – or his close relatives, they had argued.“The coincidence is remarkable that in a state, work orders and tenders are given to family members in huge numbers,” a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N.V. Anjaria had orally observed while ordering the CBI inquiry on April 6.Following the Supreme Court order, the Congress had demanded Khandu’s resignation and also asked why prime minister Narendra Modi has been silent on the issue.“This is not an order of a lower court or a high court. It is of the Supreme Court. Yet the CM continues in office,” Congress Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary in-charge for communications Jairam Ramesh had written on X, adding to note that Khandu is also in charge of Arunachal Pradesh’s public works department and “controls the files that the CBI will need to conduct its inquiry”.“Why is the man who once said na khaunga na khane dunga quiet and why has the Arunachal Pradesh CM not been asked to step down,” Ramesh had asked, referring to the anti-corruption plank on which Modi stormed to power in 2014. “This is a gross travesty of the Supreme Court’s verdict itself.”Moreover, Khandu staying in office is also contradictory to the stance that the BJP had adopted towards corruption when on August 20 last year, Union home minister Amit Shah had introduced the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025; The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025; and The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025 in the Lok Sabha.The three Bills, which were opposed at the introduction stage by the opposition, have been sent to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC).The constitutional amendment Bill, if passed, will give additional powers to the Union government to remove a chief minister or anyone in their cabinet if they are detained in jail for 30 days, even if not convicted. Soon after the introduction of the Bills, opposition members in the Lok Sabha opposed the legislation and said that the Bills make way for a “police state”, violate due process, open doors for political misuse and target opposition-ruled states.In identical statements of reasons and objects the Bills state: “A Minister, who is facing allegations of serious criminal offences, arrested and detained in custody, may thwart or hinder the canons of constitutional morality and principles of good governance and eventually diminish the constitutional trust reposed by people in him.”At such a juncture, the BJP’s support for Khandu despite the corruption allegations raises questions about the duplicity in its stand against corruption, when the graft charges are against one of its own party members and sitting chief minister.