Modi takes oath today
Online desk: Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will to take oath today for a third straight term, equaling the feat of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, reports NDTV.
Leaders of several neighbouring countries, including those from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Mauritius, will be attending the swearing-in ceremony.
Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina is now in India to participate in the programme.
Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP will be getting four portfolios in the new cabinet led by prime minister Narendra Modi, while the JDU will get two berths, sources have said. Three of the four TDP leaders who may find a place in PM Modi’s new cabinet are – Ram Mohan Naidu, Harish Balayogi and Daggumalla Prasad.
Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) has proposed the name of two senior leaders – Lalan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur. Lalan Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha from Bihar’s Munger, while Ram Nath Thakur is a Rajya Sabha MP. Thakur is the son of Bharat Ratna receipient Karpoori Thakur.
The decision was taken at a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting to decide on the cabinet berths ahead of the government’s swearing-in tomorrow.
According to sources, TDP had sought four portfolios and the post of the parliamentary speaker after winning 16 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh. JD(U) had asked two cabinet berths after winning 12 seats.
Kumar and Naidu emerged as kingmakers after the the BJP secured only 240 seats, falling short of the 272 needed for a majority government. The NDA clinched 293 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, marking a significant victory.
The coalition negotiations are a throwback to an era before 2014 – when PM Modi swept to power with an outright BJP majority – in which alliance partners haggled for positions and benefits.
AFP adds: Narendra Modi’s chief rival Rahul Gandhi was nominated on Saturday to lead India’s opposition in parliament after an election result that rescued his party from the political wilderness.
Gandhi defied analysts’ expectations and exit polls to help his Congress party nearly double its parliamentary numbers, its best result since Modi was swept to power a decade ago.
A meeting of the Congress leadership on Saturday voted unanimously to recommend Gandhi’s election as India’s official opposition leader, a post that had been left vacant since 2014.
‘All participants unanimously passed the resolution that Rahul Gandhi should take the position of leader of opposition in the parliament,’ Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal told a news conference after a meeting of the party’s executive.
The nomination will be put before a meeting of the 232 lawmakers belonging to a Congress-led opposition alliance later on Saturday.
Gandhi is the scion of the dynasty that dominated Indian politics for decades and is the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.
If elected, as expected, he will be recognised as India’s official opposition leader when the new parliament sits, which local media reports suggest will happen as soon as early next week.
Parliamentary regulations require the opposition leader to come from a party that commands at least 10 percent of the lawmakers in the 543-seat lower house.
The post has been vacant for 10 years because two dismal election results for Congress — once India’s dominant party of government — left it short of that threshold.
Tuesday’s election results increased the party’s parliamentary representation from 52 to 99 seats.
A statement from the Congress executive said that ‘many challenges’ remained in the party’s road to reclaiming its credibility and returning to government in the future.
‘The people of India have spoken — the Congress has been given another chance,’ the statement said.
‘It is now up to us to build on it. We must and we will.’
Modi and his Hindu-nationalist BJP ruled outright for the past decade but failed to repeat its previous two landslide wins this time, despite widespread expectations of another easy triumph.
