Modi to take oath as India prime minister on May 26: party

Published May 20, 2014
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and India's next prime minister Narendra Modi. — Photo by AP
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and India's next prime minister Narendra Modi. — Photo by AP

NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi will be sworn in as Indian prime minister and form a government on May 26 after winning the general election in a landslide last week, his right-wing party said Tuesday.

“Narendra Modi's swearing-in as prime minister will be on the 26th,”Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh told reporters.

Modi was set to meet Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi on Tuesday to inform him of his intention to form an administration.

Earlier, he held an emotional meeting in the national parliament, his first since his triumphant victory, urging his party colleagues to dedicate themselves to serving the nation.

The 63-year-old leader bowed and kissed the steps of the building as he entered for a meeting of his Hindu nationalist BJP and its political allies, which elected him as leader in the parliament.

Speaking in the central hall of the complex in New Delhi, Modi had to hold back tears in a rare public display of emotion by the hardliner known to his supporters as the “Lion of Gujarat”.

“I said this earlier and I say it again: that 125 crore (1.25 billion) Indians' hopes and aspirations are embedded in this temple of democracy,” he said.

The BJP, elected on promises to revive the economy, is expected to steer India sharply towards the right after a decade in power by the left-leaning Congress party, which has dominated India since independence in 1947.

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