Preparations at Rashtrapati Bhavan for Sunday’s swearing-in of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his third consecutive term as Prime Minister were in full swing throughout Saturday, with arrangements for utmost security and comfort of guests.

President Droupadi Murmu will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Mr Modi in the open and spacious forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan at 7.15 pm. Several thousand chairs were installed at the venue on Saturday.

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Mr Modi will be sworn-in along with a sizable number of his Council of Ministers, including senior Cabinet Ministers likely to be assigned positions as Home, Defence, Finance and External Affairs Ministers.

The Prime Minister was unanimously elected leader of the NDA and was invited to form the next government by the President. Mr Modi said he was thankful to the President for entrusting him with a major responsibility.

Since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of Mr Modi will be a coalition government, the swearing-in ceremony will see oath-taking by representatives of several alliance partners like the Telegu Desam Party, the Janata Dal (U), the Lok Janshakti Party, the Janata Dal (S) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

There was speculation the whole day on the different parties’ nominees likely to be included in the new Council of Ministers. There could be 12 to 15 nominees from the alliance partners in the new government.

Since the Telugu Desam and the Janata Dal (U) are major allies of the BJP in the NDA, they will be getting their due share of the Ministers’ posts.

Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam leader Chandrababu Naidu have been keen on the speedy development of their States and they are believed to be seeking Ministries which can push development projects of their States.

Mr Naidu has been seeking funds for Amaravati, the new Capital of Andhra Pradesh. Among those likely to be included in the new Council of Ministers is Rajya Sabha member Ram Nath Thakur of the Janata Dal (U), and son of legendary Bihar leader and Bharat Ratna awardee Karpoori Thakur. The Janata Dal (U) MP from Munger Lalan Singh is also likely to be included in the new Modi-led government.

Son of late Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Mr Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, which has secured five Lok Sabha seats in alliance with the BJP in Bihar, is also likely to be made a Minister.

Others whose names were in circulation in reports were Mr Jitan Ram Manjhi of Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) of Bihar; Mr Ram Mohan Naidu of Telugu Desam, son of late Union Minister K Yerran Naidu, a close associate of late Telugu Desam founder N T Rama Rao; and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary from Uttar Pradesh, son of late Union Minister Ajit Singh and grandson of late Prime Minister Charan Singh.

Janata Dal (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, NCP leader Praful Patel , Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel could also be included in the Ministry being sworn-in on Sunday.

Along with distinguished foreign leaders, a large number of influential persons from Ayodhya and Varanasi, rat miners who helped in the rescue of workers trapped in Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand, labour associated with Central Vista project in Delhi and the Bullet Train project have also been invited for the ceremony.

Leaders from India’s neighbourhood and Indian Ocean region have been invited for the swearing in ceremony. Some of them including Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were already here to attend the ceremony.

The other dignitaries invited are President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe; President of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu, Vice-President of Seychelles Ahmed Afif; Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth; Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’; and Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay.

In addition to participating in the swearing-in ceremony, the leaders will attend a banquet hosted by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the same evening.

The visit of the leaders to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Mr Modi for his third consecutive term is in keeping with the highest priority accorded by India to its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and ‘SAGAR’ vision.