New Delhi. Congress said on Saturday that the leaders of the ‘India’ alliance have not yet received the invitation for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but it will be considered after receiving the invitation. Modi will take oath on June 9 for his third term as Prime Minister. Many other members of his Council of Ministers may also take oath along with him.
Responding to a question, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh told reporters, “Only international leaders have been invited for PM Modi’s swearing-in ceremony. Our leaders have not received the invitation yet. If India Janabandhan leaders receive an invitation, we will consider it.”
Congress’s organization general secretary KC Venugopal said that the ‘India’ alliance will decide about attending the swearing-in ceremony. Dismissing reports of displeasure of his ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Party leader Hanuman Beniwal in Rajasthan, Venugopal said that he himself has spoken to Beniwal and now everything is fine.
Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi will take oath for the third consecutive term on Sunday and will be the second politician to achieve this feat after the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Meanwhile, intense discussions are going on between the BJP leadership and the allies regarding the share of ministers in the Council of Ministers for various components of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the new government.
Senior BJP leaders like Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, besides party president J.P. Nadda are consulting allies including Telugu Desam Party’s N. Chandrababu Naidu, JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar and Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde on representation in the government.
It is believed that apart from important departments like Home, Finance, Defence and Foreign, ministries with two strong ideological aspects like Education and Culture will remain with the BJP, while its allies may get five to eight cabinet posts. While within the party, leaders like Shah and Singh are considered certain to be included in the new cabinet, former Chief Ministers who won the Lok Sabha elections like Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Basavaraj Bommai, Manohar Lal Khattar and Sarbananda Sonowal are strong contenders to join the government.
Tags: Congress, india alliance, Narendra Modi
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 8, 2024, 19:53 IST