Narendra Modi to Take Oath as Prime Minister for Third Term, Prominent South Asian Leaders Expected to Attend
Following a crucial meeting in Delhi on Wednesday, where his allies selected him as their leader, Narendra Modi is scheduled to take the oath of office as prime minister for the third time in a row on Sunday, May 26, 2023. Invites to the oath ceremony from prominent South Asian leaders are indicative of the government’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ strategy. Leaders from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have already given their confirmation to attend the event, following a phone conversation with PM Modi.
The office of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s media division announced that the president has accepted the invitation to attend the event on Saturday and congratulated Prime Minister Modi on winning the election. Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, was one of the first international leaders to congratulate PM Modi, demonstrating the cordial and intimate relationship between the two figures. She is expected to arrive in Delhi on Friday, as reported by Bangladeshi media. It has also been reported that formal invitations have been given to Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth of Mauritius, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ of Nepal, and his colleague Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan.
With 293 out of 543 Lok Sabha seats, the NDA has easily surpassed the magic number, while the BJP, with 240 seats, has fallen short of the halfway point. At their meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence yesterday, the NDA partners—Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party and Nitish Kumar, the leader of Janata Dal-United—unanimously selected Prime Minister Modi to lead the coalition. The leaders of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) countries attended PM Modi’s oath ceremony in 2019, while the leaders of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries attended his swearing-in event in 2014.
