Narendra Modi, who demolished political opponents in the lok Sabha polls and propelled a BJP-led non-Congress Government with an absolute majority to power at the Centre after 30 years, was on Tuesday appointed Prime Minister of the country.
The oath of office and secrecy would be administered to Modi on May 26. The elected National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leader was given an appointment letter by President Pranab Mukherjee when he visited him at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in the afternoon.
Modi called on the President after he was unanimously elected leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party and later leader of the NDA coalition.
“I came to call on the President, who gave me a formal letter (of appointment as the PM) and invited me for the oath-taking ceremony on May 26 at 6 pm as we had decided earlier,” Modi told reporters after emerging from the meeting with Mukherjee.
A Rashtrapati Bhawan communiqué said as Modi had been elected leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party and the BJP has majority support in the House of the People, the President appointed him the Prime Minister of India and requested him to advise the names of members of the Council of Ministers.
“The President will administer the oath of office and secrecy on May 26 at 6 pm at Rashtrapati Bhawan,” the President’s spokesman Venu Rajamony said.
The President greeted Modi on his landslide victory.”Welcome, welcome, welcome,” Mukherjee said while receiving a bouquet from Modi. Offering a bunch of flowers to Modi in exchange, he congratulated the BJP leader on his “grand victory”.
Incidentally, Modi seemed to have foreseen his elevation as Prime Minister when he, at an election rally in West Bengal, suggested that Mamata Banerjee as Chief Minister in the State, “Pranab da” in Rashtrapati Bhawan and he as Premier would present an ideal picture.
According to BJP president Rajnath Singh, 3,000 people would be invited for the swearing-in ceremony.
Before Modi’s meeting with the President, a delegation of NDA leaders led by BJP chief Rajnath Singh, veteran BJP leader lK Advani and Sushma Swaraj called on the President to convey to him the decision of the BJP and NDA parliamentary parties to choose Modi as their leader.
Singh told the President that the BJP had the support letters of ten allies of the NDA which includes 335 MPs. The letter of one ally -Swabimani Paksh of Maharashtra — was not ready and it would be submitted soon.