Itanagar, May 6 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are arriving in Itanagar Friday to pay their last respects to Dorjee Khandu, the Arunachal Pradesh chief minister who died in a helicopter crash over the weekend.

Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi are expected to reach Guwahati at around 9.30 a.m. and then fly to Itanagar in a helicopter.

Khandu's body would be flown to Tawang, his home district, Friday afternoon for the funeral rites as per Buddhist rituals.

Khandu and four others, including two pilots, a personal security officer, and the sister of the Tawang legislator, were killed in the crash Saturday. The bodies were retrieved from the crash site at Lobotang near the 13,700 feet Sela Pass in Tawang district Thursday after days of intense search operation.

Senior Congress leader Jarbom Gamlin was sworn in as the new chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh late Thursday by Governor Gen. (Retd.) J.J. Singh at a hurriedly convened, sombre oath-taking ceremony at Raj Bhavan here.

Although six names had emerged, Gamlin, the power minister in the Khandu-led cabinet, got the nod from Congress president Sonia Gandhi at around 9 p.m. Thursday.

Four central ministers - V. Narayanswamy, Mukul Wasnik, Salman Khurshid and Bijoy Krishna Handique - were present at the swearing-in ceremony.

Gamlin was a former MP in the Lok Sabha, and as power minister he was instrumental in roping in several power giants to invest in the setting up of mini and mega hydro power projects in the state.

"I am committed to carrying forward the good pro-people policies of Dorjee Khandu. I am sad indeed to take oath on a day when his (Dorjee Khandu) body was retreived from the crash site," Gamlin said soon after being sworn in.

"I would be laying emphasis on infrastructure development, especially roads, to improve connectivity in the state, besides focussing on healthcare and education."