Modi to take oath as PM on May 26

NDA leaders led by Advani meet President, convey support to Modi-led govt

Narendra Modi, who was formally elected the leader of the BJP parliamentary party and the NDA, will take oath as Prime Minister on May 26, BJP chief Rajnath Singh said today.

NDA leaders led by L K Advani met President Pranab Mukherjee to convey support to the Narendra Modi-led government. (Watch Video)

Singh said BJP had support letters of 10 allies of the NDA which includes 335 MPs.

Watch Video | NDA will work for poor, not for position: Narendra Modi

Earlier today, Modi's name was proposed by BJP veteran L K Advani and seconded by top BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley among others. 

"I will try to live up to expectations of people; will present report card to people in 2019," Modi said after being elected the leader. 

Meanwhile, many rivals and fence-sitters, both within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and outside, made a beeline for Modi to either extend a hand of friendship or indicate their surrender to his leadership.

Modi spent Sunday and Monday deciding on the contours of his Cabinet. A dozen of the Cabinet ministers are likely to be sworn in along with him later this week. Modi and his advisors have been trying to get the regional, caste, religion and gender balance of the Cabinet right so that it reflects a pan-Indian picture.

Modi, going by his years as Gujarat CM, is likely to keep his Cabinet lean. The 91st amendment to the Constitution, enacted in 2003, warrants the total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister or Chief Minister, in the council of ministers doesn’t exceed 15 per cent of the total number of members of the Lok Sabha or a Vidhan Sabha.

Modi’s cabinet in Gujarat had 17 ministers in a House of 180, that is barely 10 per cent. The outgoing UPA government’s council of minister was filled to the brim with 71 ministers. The need to accommodate allies, the Shiv Sena, Lok Janshakti Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal and other National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Cabinet, however, is unlikely to give Modi the space to keep his council of ministers as lean as in Gujarat.