Itanagar, Dec. 19: In a major blow to the lone regional party of the state, all five legislators of the People's Party of Arunachal today jumped ship to the ruling Congress party.

In a joint statement issued by the legislators, the new recruits said they joined the Congress 'to achieve the goal of inclusive development' and that 'working under the largest and oldest political party of the country could help us realise the political goal while serving the goods to the people'. While the statement issued was high on bonhomie, trouble within the PPA's top fold had been brewing for the past few months.

The first sign of trouble appeared in June when party MLAs voted for the Congress's Mukut Mithi in Rajya Sabha elections, going against some PPA senior members, including former MLA Laeta Umbrey who quit the party and joined the BJP in anger.

Last month, the PPA's central working committee chairman Kamen Ringu sacked Diyun-Bordumsa MLA Nikh Kamin from the post of party president replacing him with Khafa Bengia as interim president. Soon after, led by Kamin, the other party MLAs, including Pani Taram, Tirong Aboh, Passang Dorjee Sona and Wan-glam Sawin decried the move.

Sona had joined the PPA just prior to the election this year after being denied a ticket by the Congress and narrowly beat out his opponent. He justified today's merger saying, 'people vote with certain aspirations which cannot be put aside for political reasons' and that 'in Arunachal, those aspirations can only be fulfilled by the Congress'.

The party's interim president, Khafa Bengia, said the party would initiate 'necessary action' with the Assembly Speaker. The Speaker has already issued a notification announcing the merger. This latest development increases the Congress's tally to 46 MLAs.