India has invited several leaders of neighbouring countries to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi, who is going to become Prime Minister for the third consecutive time. The ceremony will take place at 7:15 pm on Sunday, June 9 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The same evening, the Council of Ministers, becoming part of the Prime Minister’s new Cabinet, will also take the oath of office and secrecy. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, several leaders have accepted the invitation and will arrive in New Delhi to attend the ceremony.
These leaders will be included
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe
Dr Mohamed Muizzu, President of Maldives
Vice President of Seychelles, Ahmed Afeef
Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina
Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth
Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’
Prime Minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay
brainstorming phase
Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi will take oath for the third consecutive term on Sunday and will become the second politician to achieve this feat after the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Meanwhile, intense deliberations are going on between the BJP leadership and allies regarding the share of ministers in the Council of Ministers for various components of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the new government. Apart from Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, senior BJP leaders like party president JP Nadda are consulting allies including Telugu Desam Party’s N. Chandrababu Naidu, JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar and Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde regarding representation in the government. It is believed that apart from important departments like Home, Finance, Defense and Foreign, ministries with two strong ideological aspects like Education and Culture will remain with the BJP, while its allies may get five to eight cabinet posts.
While within the party, leaders like Shah and Singh are considered certain to be included in the new cabinet, former chief ministers who won the Lok Sabha elections such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Basavaraj Bommai, Manohar Lal Khattar and Sarbananda Sonowal are strong contenders to be included in the government. Sources said Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) Ram Mohan Naidu, JD(U)’s Lalan Singh, Sanjay Jha and Ram Nath Thakur and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)’s Chirag Paswan are among the allies who could be part of the new government. Maharashtra, where the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance has performed poorly, and Bihar, where the opposition has shown signs of a comeback, could be in focus during the government formation exercise. Maharashtra is due to hold assembly elections in October, while Bihar will go to polls next year.
Security is strong
In view of Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, Delhi Police has declared the national capital a ‘no-fly zone’ and imposed prohibitory orders for June 9 and 10. A multi-layered security arrangement will be made for the swearing-in ceremony in Delhi and five companies of paramilitary forces, National Security Guard (NSG) commandos, drones and snipers will be deployed to protect the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Officials said that the national capital will be on ‘high alert’ in view of the dignitaries from the member countries of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) being invited for the swearing-in ceremony. The order issued by Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora said that the prohibitory orders will be in force for two days on June 9 and 10.
what did the opposition say
The Congress said on Saturday that the leaders of the ‘India’ alliance have not yet received the invitation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, but it will be considered after receiving the invitation. Responding to a question, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh told reporters, “Only international leaders have been invited for tomorrow’s swearing-in ceremony. Our leaders have not received the invitation yet. If India Jana Bandhan leaders get the invitation, we will consider it.” When asked if she would attend the swearing-in ceremony of PM-designate Narendra Modi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, “I have not received (the invitation), nor will I go.”
