Ahead of Modi swearing in: BJP mum on government formation
Source: The Sangai Express / PTI/Agencies

New Delhi, May 25 2014: Hectic parleys were held on Sunday on government forma-tion involving Narendra Modi, BJP president Rajnath Singh and other senior leaders as also the RSS, but there was a veil of secrecy in the exercise, trigge-ring speculation on who gets key ministries.

The list of council of ministers, who will take oath along with Modi on Monday evening, is expected to be conveyed to the Rashtrapati Bhawan by Monday morning.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley met senior RSS functionary Suresh Soni at the RSS head office here.

Earlier in the day, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu met Modi to discuss the names of MPs of his party to be inducted in the new government.

He had last night also met BJP chief Rajnath Singh.

Vizianagaram MP Ashok Gajapathi Raju's name is doing rounds as the TDP repre- sentative in the Modi government.

Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh are also likely to find Cabinet berths in Modi's government.

Amid hectic parleys, a host of leaders including Gha-ziabad MP and former Army chief Gen VK Singh, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ananth Kumar, Jagdish Mukhi and Sheohar MP Rama Devi met Rajnath Singh.

The swearing-in ceremony of Modi will take place on Monday at 6pm in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The 15th Prime Minister of India will take oath in the presence of nearly 3,000 guests, including leaders from Saarc countries like Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

President Pranab Mukher-jee will administer the oath of office and secrecy to 63-year-old Modi and his council of ministers in the presence of a host of leaders, including out-going Prime Minister Man- mohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi besides leaders of various other parties and chief ministers of a number of states.

Modi's mother Hiraben is also expected to attend the ceremony.

Besides Sharif and Raja-paksa, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom will be among the foreign dignitaries attending the ceremony.

Bangladesh will be represented by Speaker Shirin Chaudhury as Premier Sheikh Hasina would be travelling to Japan at the time of the swearing-in ceremony.

This is the first time that the heads of states of SAARC nations have been invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Indian Prime Minister.

Following in the footsteps of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Modi had expressed his desire to be sworn in at the fore- court so that a large number of visitors can be accommodated for the ceremony.

Earlier, Chandrashekar was another Prime Minister who had taken oath at the same venue.

The historic Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan is the usual venue for such ceremonies.

But since it can ac- commodate about 500 people, the forecourt was decided as the suitable venue.

Meanwhile, fate of more than ten state governors, including Karnataka's HR Bhar- dwaj and Punjab's Shivraj V Patil, appointed by the outgoing UPA government hangs in balance with indications that the new dispensation may politely ask them to vacate the Raj Bhavans.

Officials said the Narendra Modi government is unlikely to go for wholesale sacking of the governors but there is every possibility that some of them may be politely asked to put in papers to pave way for new appointments.

"It is quite normal for a new government to ask some of the occupants of Raj Bha-vans to resign as their scheme of things may not suit those holding the high constitutional posts," an official said.

Among the governors, Bhardwaj (Karnataka), Jagan-nath Pahadiya (Haryana), Devanand Konwar (Tripura) and Margaret Alva (Rajasthan) will complete their full five-year term in next three-four months.

While Bhardwaj had a strained relationship with the previous BJP government in Karnataka, Alva reportedly shares cordial relations with Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje.

Those who will complete their tenure in six to eight months are � Kamla Beniwal (Gujarat), MK Narayanan (West Bengal), JB Patnaik (Assam), Patil (Punjab) and Urmila Singh (Himachal Pradesh).

Beniwal's spat with the Modi government in Gujarat over appointment of Lokayukta in the state is well known.

Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was appointed as Kerala Governor in March this year, Jammu & Kashmir governor NN Vohra was given a second term in April 2013 and former home secretary VK Duggal was appointed as governor of Manipur in December 2013 .

Other governors who may come under review of the new NDA government are BL Joshi (serving his second term in Uttar Pradesh), BV Wanchoo (Goa), K Sankaranarayanan (who is serving his second term in Maharashtra), K Rosaiah (Tamil Nadu), Ram Naresh Yadav (Madhya Pradesh), DY Patil (Bihar), Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil (Sikkim), Aziz Quereshi (Uttarakhand), Vakkom Purushothaman (Mizoram) and Syed Ahmed (Jharkhand) .

Chhattisgarh governor Shekhar Dutta, Arunachal Pradesh's Lt General (retd) Nirbhay Sharma, Nagaland's Ashwani Kumar and Meghalaya's KK Paul may also come under the scrutiny of the new government.

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