Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his council of Ministers will take oath today at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The names of the Cabinet Ministers have not been announced yet.
However, based on reports, the cabinet would include old as well as new names such as Prakash Javadekar, Smriti Irani, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Kiran Rijiju, Babul Supriyo, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Jitendra Singh.
Arun Jaitley had stepped down from ministerial position of the new cabinet citing health issues on Wednesday.
As per reports, new ministers to be inducted to the cabinet will meet Modi today at 4.30 PM prior to the oath taking ceremony at 7 PM.
Prime Minister-elect Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah met on Thursday morning ahead of the ceremony to finalise the government portfolios.
More than 8,000 guests are likely to attend the oath taking ceremony today. The leaders of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) nations have started arriving in the capital to be a part of the PM’s swearing-in ceremony.
President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena, President of Myanmar Win Myint, Special envoy of Thailand Grisada Boonrach, Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid have already arrived. President of Kyrgyz Republic Sooronbay Jeenbekov and Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli will be arriving later in the day.
Families of BJP workers killed in alleged poll-related violence in West Bengal have also reached Delhi to attend the ceremony.
The Chief Ministers of West Bengal – Mamta Banerjee, Odisha – Naveen Patnaik, Kerala – Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab – Amrinder Singh and Chhattisgarh – Bhupesh Singh Bhaghel will not be attending the ceremony owing to personal or political reasons.
Delhi roads, Rajpath, South Avenue, North Avenue, Dara-Shikoh road and Church Road will be closed from 4 to 9 pm today.
In the morning, Modi paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee along with the war heroes at Rajghat.