ITANAGAR: Congress legislature party leader in Arunachal Pradesh Lombo Tayeng joined the ruling BJP on Monday, ahead of the assembly elections in the state. With Tayeng switching sides, the Congress which won four seats in the 60-member assembly in 2019 now has just one MLA -- former CM Nabam Tuki. Last week, the other two Congress MLAs, Ninong Ering and Wanglin Lowangdong, had also joined the BJP, along with two NPP lawmakers -- Mutchu Mithi and Gokar Basar.


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Along with Tayeng, a six-term legislator from Mebo in East Siang district, Independent MLA Chakat Aboh of Khonsa West in Tirap district also joined the BJP at the party's state headquarters in Itanagar. Assembly elections are held in the state along with the Lok Sabha polls.



BJP state president Biyuram Wahge welcomed both the lawmakers into the party. Tayeng was a minister in the previous Congress government. Aboh won the Khonsa West seat in a by-election after her husband Tirong Aboh, who was a National People's Party (NPP) nominee, was assassinated by suspected NSCN militants before the declaration of the 2019 assembly election results.


Both the MLAs joined the BJP, reposing "full faith" in the leadership of Chief Minister Pema Khandu. With the joining of the two MLAs, the ruling BJP's tally rose to 55. The NPP has two MLAs and there are two Independents, besides the one Congress member.