GUWAHATI: President Draupadi Murmu administered the oath of office at a glittering function at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan, which was attended by several presidents and prime ministers from neighbouring and other countries.
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This is Modi’s third consecutive term as prime minister, a feat earlier accomplished by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. Modi was followed by others like Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Sarbananda Sonowal and BJP president J P Nadda among others.
According to reports, 71 ministers are scheduled to take oath, including Kiren Rijiju.
Rajya Sabha member from Assam Pabitra Margherita is tipped to be sworn in as a minister of state. The recent Lok Sabha elections threw up a fractured mandate necessitating a coalition government. The last two were also NDA governments, but BJP enjoyed a majority on its own and hence did not have to deal with the dynamics of a coalition government.
This time, however, the BJP fell way short of the halfway mark of 272 winning 240 seats and is forced to lead a truly coalition government with the pulls and pressures that are the hallmark of such a dispensation.