KATHMANDU, May 27: Leaders from the BIMSTEC member states—Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan—will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 30 in the Indian capital New Delhi, media reports said on Monday.
Modi’s swearing-in ceremony on Thursday will be attended by leaders from the BIMSTEC member states; the Hindustan Times reported quoting official sources on Monday.
Responding to media queries India's Ministry of External Affairs said "Government of India has invited the leaders of the BIMSTEC Member States for the Swearing-in ceremony. This is in line with Government's focus on its 'Neighbourhood First' policy. The President of the Kyrgyz Republic, who is the current Chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Prime Minister of Mauritius, who was the Chief Guest at this year's Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, have also been invited."
"We will keep the media abreast of further details in due course," the MEA said on its official website.
In 2014, Modi had invited all SAARC leaders for his swearing-in ceremony. Then Nepali Prime Minister Sushil Koirala had attended Modi's swearing-in.
BIMSTEC Meet concludes
“The President will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the Prime Minister and other members of the Union council of ministers at 7pm on May 30, 2019, at Rashtrapati Bhavan,” read the statement issued by the Indian President's Office on Sunday.
Modi will be sworn in a week after he returned to power in a thumping victory. The counting of votes polled in the seven-phase elections to the 17th Lok Sabha took place on Thursday.
“The ceremony will be similar to the one that took place in 2014,” the Hindu said quoting an official of the President's Office.
Modi was elected unanimously as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance on May 25. Later, he called on the President in his capacity as leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party, which has majority support in the House of the People following the general election to the 17th Lok Sabha.
India's NDA together has a strength of 353 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha out of which the BJP has a majority of 303 MPs.
