New Delhi: Ahead of being sworn in as the Prime Minister for the second consecutive term, Narendra Modi on Thursday morning visited Rajghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, and paid tribute to the Father of the Nation.
He also paid floral tributes to the late BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his memorial, Sadaiv Atal Samadhi, and placed a wreath at the National War Memorial here.
Modi, who was elected unanimously as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Saturday, was accompanied by BJP national president Amit Shah, and party leaders including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Maneka Gandhi, Smriti Irani, and J P Nadda.
Modi and his council of ministers are scheduled to take oath at 7 pm on Thursday evening at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Reports indicated that at least 50-60 ministers will be sworn in on Thursday, that may include 8-10 ministers from NDA constituents.
The swearing-in ceremony will be attended by around 8,000 invitees, including foreign dignitaries, allies, opposition leaders and heads of state governments.
Former ministers like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Narendra Singh Tomar, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Prakash Javadekar, and Anupriya Patel are expected to find a place in the new cabinet. Before being administered the oath of office, Modi will hold a meeting with the minister-designates.
Amit Shah is unlikely to be a part of the Union Cabinet, sources revealed.
According to media reports, Shah has made calls to Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, Sadananda Gowda, Arjun Meghwal, Kiren Rijiju, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, Prakash Javadekar, Ramdas Athavale, Jitender Singh, Babul Supriyo and Kailash Chowdhury. They have been invited to the prime minister's home at 5 pm, before the swearing-in.
Among some of the new faces that are likely to be inducted include Prahlad Patel from Madhya Pradesh, Kailash Chowdhry from Rajasthan, Krishna Reddy from Telangana and Suresh Angedi from Karnataka and Raosaheb Danve from Maharashtra.
The central BJP leadership has instructed former Kerala unit president Kummanam Rajasekharan, who resigned as Mizoram Governor and unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Thiruvananthapuram, to reach New Delhi on Thursday. According to sources, Alphons Kannanthanam, the minister of state for Tourism and Information Technology in the previous government, is likely to be retained.
Reports also say that BJP leaders Dharmendra Pradhan and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will be meeting PM Narendra Modi at 4:30pm on Thursday at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP from Bathinda, and Babul Supriyo, BJP MP from Asansol, are also all set to take oath as ministers on Thursday.
Possible ministers among allies
BJP allies like Shiv Sena, JD(U), AIADMK, LJP, Akali Dal and Apna Dal are set to be represented in the government.
Each NDA ally is likely to get one cabinet berth, sources said.
The Shiv Sena has confirmed its leader Arvind Sawant, who defeated Congress heavyweight Milind Deora from Mumbai, will be its nominee in the council of ministers.
Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Badal, who was Food Processing minister in the earlier government, will be in the new council of ministers as well, sources said.
The Lok Janshakti Party has already passed a resolution recommending its president Ram Vilas Paswan as the party's representative in the Modi government.
The Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel is likely to be in the council of ministers.
The JD-U is likely to nominate either Ram Nath Thakur or Santosh Kushwaha, sources said.
Meanwhile, Modi met outgoing finance minister Arun Jaitley at his residence, barely hours after the latter opted out of any ministerial position citing ill health. Though what transpired in the meeting was not disclosed, it is believed that Modi requested him to reconsider his decision.
Pinarayi, Mamata to skip the ceremony
Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi VIjayan, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not attend Thursday’s swearing-in ceremony of the NDA government. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will also skip the function.
Former president Pranab Mukherjee, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, her son and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, outgoing Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda will be in attendance at the function to be held on the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. BJP and NDA leaders from Kerala will also attend.
Apart from Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Modi is only the third prime minister who has been able to retain power for a second term with full majority in Lok Sabha.
(With inputs from PTI)
