Modi takes oath as India PM for the 3rd straight time, 72 ministers join
Along with Modi, 72 ministers of the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government also took oath, including some heavyweight ones such as Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari.
NARENDRA MODI on Sunday (9) took oath as the prime minister of India for the third successive time, equalling the record of the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who had done the same in 1962 after completing two terms.
Along with Modi, 72 ministers of the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government also took oath. Thirty of them are of cabinet rank while 36 are ministers of state. Five ministers were with independent charge. The portfolios will be announced later.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at the lawns of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, official residence of the Indian president, with the weather office forecasting the mercury touching 42 degree Celsius in the national capital. The oath was administered to Modi and other leaders by president Droupadi Murmu.
Top BJP leaders such as Rajnath Singh, Amit Singh and Nitin Gadkari took oath following Modi. The others were JP Nadda, the president of the BJP; Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Manohar Lal Khattar, among others.
Modi, 73, will head a coalition government for the first term since his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party failed to get a majority on its own in this year’s general elections. It had achieved the majority figure of 272 in the last two elections and the ‘Brand Modi’ ruled for a decade. In this term, eyes will be on some of Modi’s key allies such as Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal- United and N Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party.
A number of foreign leaders took part in the swearing-in, including the heads of state of neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives besides some from the Indian Ocean Region.
Indian industrialists such as Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani and film personalities such as Shah Rukh Khan, Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar were also among the attendees.
INDIA’S prime minister Narendra Modi is set to be sworn in on Sunday (9) for a third term after worse-than-expected election results left him reliant on coalition partners to govern.
With Modi yet to announce the makeup of this cabinet, the ceremony at the presidential palace on Sunday evening (1345 GMT) will be keenly watched when around 30 ministers-to-be also take the oath on the constitution.
Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled outright for the past decade but failed to repeat its previous two landslide wins this time around, defying analysts’ expectations and exit polls.
Modi takes oath as India PM for the 3rd straight time, 72 ministers join