Modi to form government

AFP | New Delhi  

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be sworn in at the weekend after securing a third term in office following an unexpectedly close election that forced his party to rely on coalition partners to keep him in power.

Modi and his ministers will take the oath of office tomorrow evening, a statement from President Droupadi Murmu's office said Friday.

Modi presented signed letters of support showing his majority to President Murmu, who in turn invited him to form the next government.

"I thank the people that they gave the NDA government a third chance to serve them," Modi said on Friday evening.

"This is the opportunity and will of the people and I thank them with my heart for this opportunity," he said. Modi earlier addressed a meeting inside India's parliament of nearly 300 lawmakers forming his coalition and thanked them for unanimously supporting his leadership.

The alliance will wield 293 seats in the lower house of parliament out of a total of 543.

Rahul nominated as leader of opposition

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chief rival Rahul Gandhi was nominated yesterday to lead India’s opposition in parliament after an election result that rescued his party from the political wilderness.

A meeting of the Congress leadership yesterday voted unanimously to recommend Gandhi’s election as India’s official opposition leader, a post that had been left vacant since 2014.

“All participants unanimously passed the resolution that Rahul Gandhi should take the position of leader of opposition in the parliament,” Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal told a news conference afterwards.

Parliamentary regulations require the opposition leader to come from a party that commands at least 10 percent of the lawmakers in the 543- seat lower house.