Modi's mega swearing-in ceremony likely on May 30

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may be sworn-in for the second term on May 30 and some world leaders could be invited for it, making it an event bigger than the 2014 when heads of governments of SAARC countries were invited, sources said here on Friday.

Before his swearing-in, Modi is likely to visit Varanasi to thank the people of the parliamentary constituency from where he has been elected for the second time with a huge margin of 4,75,754 votes.

Modi polled a total of 6,69,602 votes while his nearest rival, Shalini Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP), got 1,93,848. Ajay Rai of the Congress got 1,51,800 votes.

In 2014, Modi won from Varanasi by a margin of 3.37 lakh votes. He is also likely to visit Gandhinagar to take blessings of his mother Heera Ben.

Sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the Prime Minister is in no hurry for the swearing-in as he wants to invite some world leaders for the event to send a message across the globe about how the general elections embodied the strength of Indian democracy, the largest in the world.

Earlier in 2014, Modi had invited the heads of governments of all the eight South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries for his swearing-in at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

After leading the party to a resounding victory in the Lok Sabha polls, the Prime Minister has received congratulatory messages and telephone calls from leaders across the world, including US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Sources in the BJP said the newly-elected MPs have been asked to reach Delhi by May 25 evening. A meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party to formally elect Modi as its leader is likely to take place on May 25 or 26.

The sources said the party will stake claim to form the government same day and oath taking ceremony is likely to take place after that.

--IANS

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