Final touches are being given to the list of Council of Ministers to be sworn in along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP-led NDA mandated with a landslide victory is set to take over charge for the second consecutive term.
BJP chief Amit Shah rushed to the Prime Minister’s official residence on Thursday morning.
During last three days, Mr Modi has held a series of meetings with Mr Shah and also senior party colleague Rajnath Singh.
Separately, Mr Shah on Wednesday late night met leaders such as Piyush Goyal and Bhupinder Yadav.
Sources said Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena has been nominated by party chief Uddhav Thackeray to join the ministry. Akali Dal is likely to be represented by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who was Union Food Processing Industry Minister, yet again in the new ministry.
In the outgoing ministry, Raigadh MP Ananth Geete was the Sena nominee in the cabinet, but he lost in this year’s polls to Sunil Tatkare of NCP.
Mega preparations are on for the second time swearing in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening even as a galaxy of international leaders and nation heads of BIMSTEC countries, political who’s who and regional satraps, celebrities and sports persons have been invited for the grand ceremony.
President Ram Nath Kovind will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Prime Minister Modi and his council of Ministers.
Bangladesh President Md. Abdul Hamid and Prime Ministers of Mauritius and Bhutan Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Dr Lotay Tshering respectively have already arrived.
“Friend. Neighbour. Family. PM Bhutan Dr Lotay Tshering is warmly received by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on his arrival in Delhi for attending the oath-taking ceremony of PM Narendra Modi,” MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
Earlier in the morning, Prime Minister started the day by offering homage to the Father of the nation – Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.
Mr Modi also paid homage to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his memorial Sadaiv Atal.
He also visited National War Memorial , which was inaugurated by Prime Minister on February 25 in memory of over 25,000 martyred soldiers.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made and Delhi Traffic police have issued an advisory stating about restrictions and traffic regulation after 1600 hours.
The government offices located in the vicinity of the Rashtrapati Bhavan would be closed early at 1400 hrs.
‘In connection with arrangements for the swearing in ceremony of the newly elected Prime Minister on May 30, it has been decided that the Government offices located in the North Block, South Block, Rail Bhawan, Vayu Bhawan, Sena Bhawan, DRDO and Hutments would be closed early at 1400 hours on May 30,’ an official statement said on Wednesday.
