Capping a landslide election victory, Prime Minister elect Narendra Modi would take oath along with a new council of ministers on Thursday for a second term, as suspense mounted on who will get the “big four” berths–Home, Finance, Defence and External Affairs.
Top oppositionleaders including Congress President Rahul Gandhi and UPA Chairperson SoniaGandhi, corporate honchos, film stars, chief ministers and a galaxy of leadersfrom BIMSTEC countries will be on hand to watch President Ram Nath Kovindadminister the oath of office and secrecy to 68-year-old Modi and hisministerial colleagues at the forecourt of majestic Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Modi and BJPpresident Amit Shah held a marathon meeting for the second consecutive day onWednesday during which they are learnt to have finalised the broad contours thenew ministry that is expected to have some new faces besides retaining most of the seniorministers.
Though there is anintense buzz that Shah, credited for crafting the political strategy for theBJP, may be part of the new government and be given a plum portfolio, there wasno clarity yet on him making a ministerial debut at the Centre. There was alsospeculation that Shah might continue as BJP chief since Assembly elections insome key states are due to be held in the next one year.
Many BJP leaders are of the view that most key members ofthe previous Cabinet could be retained.
Senior members like Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, NirmalaSitharaman, Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, DharmendraPradhan, Narendra Singh Tomar and Prakash Javadekar are likely to retain theirplace. Irani, who defeated Rahul Gandhi in his home turf of Amethi in UttarPradesh to earn the tag of giant killer, is expected to get a key portfolio.
A day before theswearing-in ceremony, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley wrote to Modi saying hedoes not want to be a minister in the new government on health grounds. Therehave been indications that the new ministry will reflect BJP’s rising strengthin states like West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana. As far as allies are concerned, both the Shiv Senaand the JD(U) are expected to get two berths (one cabinet and one MoS) each,while the LJP and the SAD may be given one berth each.
Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar had a meeting with Shah on Wednesday and the two leaders areunderstood to have discussed JD(U)’s representation in the government. Lok Janshakti Party on Tuesday passed aresolution, recommending its president Ram Vilas Paswan as the party’s representativein the Modi government.
The AIADMK, which wasalso not part of the previous government, won only one seat. It may be given aministerial berth as it is in power in Tamil Nadu besides being a key Dravidianally of the BJP.
Around 8,000 guests are expected to attend the swearing-inceremony at the forecourt which is generally used for ceremonial reception tovisiting heads of state and heads of government.
When Modi is sworn-in at around 7PM, it will be the secondtime he takes the oath at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Modi was swornin by the then President Pranab Mukherjee in 2014 in the presence of over 3,500guests including the heads of SAARC countries. Earlier, Chandra Shekhar in 1990and Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999 were sworn in at the sprawling forecourt.
Leaders of BIMSTECcountries including President of Bangladesh Abdul Hamid, Sri Lankan PresidentMaithripala Sirisena, Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, President of MyanmarU Win Myint and Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering have already confirmedtheir attendance at the event.
From Thailand, its Special Envoy Grisada Boonrach willrepresent the country. Besides India, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative forMulti-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) comprises Bangladesh,Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.
The government has also invited Kyrgyz President and currentchair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Kyrgyz President SooronbayJeenbekov, and Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth for the event and both ofthem have confirmed their participation.
The opposition leaders who have been invited included TMCleader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, JD(S) leader andKarnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, AAPsupremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Though Banerjee hadinitially said she will attend the event, on Wednesday she announced that shewill skip it, taking strong note of BJP’s allegation that 54 of its workers hadbeen killed in political violence in West Bengal.
The invitation toopposition leaders is seen as Modi’s move to reach out to them following thefiercely fought election in which the BJP registered a massive victory. Modi ledBJP to a back-to-back majority for a single party in over three decades withthe party winning 303 out of 542 seats in the lower house of parliament.