Narendra Modi pays tribute to ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee ahead of oath-taking as PM

NEW DELHI: Ahead of his oath-taking as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi paid tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Sadaiv Atal in Delhi on Sunday morning. Modi greeted the supporters gathered there as he walked towards the memorial.

Earlier, Narendra Modi paid floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. Narendra Modi is set to be sworn in as Prime Minister for the third consecutive term today, June 9. Narendra Modi will take the oath as Prime Minister at 7.15 pm today.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), under the leadership of Narendra Modi, will form the government at the Centre for the third consecutive term on Sunday.

#WATCH | Delhi: PM-designate Narendra Modi arrives at Sadaiv Atal to pay tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, ahead of his swearing-in ceremony, to be held today at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

He will take the Prime Minister’s oath for the third consecutive term,… pic.twitter.com/fS2L4Y0hO3

— ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2024

With today’s swearing-in, Narendra Modi will become the only leader after former PM Jawaharlal Nehru, who has been elected for a third consecutive term after completing the full tenure of each previous term. Alongside Narendra Modi, members of his council of ministers will also take their oath on the same day.

Meanwhile, posters featuring PM-designate Narendra Modi were seen across the national capital, celebrating major events during his previous tenure.

Around 1,100 traffic police personnel of the Delhi Police have been deployed, an advisory has been issued to the public for the traffic movement and route arrangements have been made for the delegates as part of the oath-taking ceremony.

Several leaders and State heads of the neighbourhood region and Indian Ocean region have been invited to Modi’s swearing-in ceremony as distinguished guests, a testament to India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.

According to an official statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, Vice-President of the Seychelles, Ahmed Afif, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina; Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’; and Prime Minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay, have accepted the invitation to attend.

“Apart from the leaders and state heads, more than 250 workers who were involved in the construction of the Parliament will also come to BJP leader Mansukh Mandaviya’s residence at 3 pm and go to the President’s house to participate in the oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi,” the statement mentioned.

Highlighting the significance of the event, the MEA emphasised, “The visit of the leaders to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his third consecutive term is in keeping with the highest priority accorded by India to its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and ‘SAGAR’ vision.”

Additionally, the MEA mentioned that besides participating in the swearing-in ceremony, the leaders will also grace a banquet hosted by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, later in the same evening. Congress leader KC Venugopal said that the opposition leaders have not received any information from the government regarding the swearing-in ceremony of PM-designate Narendra Modi.

The BJP got 240 seats and NDA has secured 292 seats out of 543 Lok Sabha seats. Congress fought the election as part of the INDIA bloc and the parties together were able to prevent BJP from getting a majority on its own in Lok Sabha. The Congress secured 99 seats, Samajwadi Party got 37 seats, while Trinamool Congress got 29 and DMK managed to win 22 seats. (ANI)