Modi show in Delhi, Varanasi

New Delhi: After scripting the historic victory of the BJP at the hustings, the biggest since 1984, Prime Minister-Elect Narendra Modi will be formally elected as BJP Parliamentary Party leader on Tuesday. This will pave the way for the Presidential Invite to be extended to him to form the next government. The date for the swearing-in ceremony is yet to be finalized. The President House Secretariat has been given a list of 3,000 invitees, who will be present to witness the swearing-in ceremony on the forecourts of Rashtrapati Bhawan.

It was in 1998 that the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had similarly preferred to be sworn-in outside, rather than in the compact Ashoka Hall of the President’s House. Modi, who led the BJP to a massive victory, decimating Congress and his rivals, including Nitish Kumar-led JD (U), RJD and regional parties like BSP, SP, NCP, National Conference and RLD, besides others, was given a rousing welcome, as soon as he landed in Delhi on Saturday morning. All along the route, he was cheered by the frenzied crowd, who had lined-up on both sides of the road to have a glimpse of their favourite leader, who has promised them “good days ahead.”

Modi’s cavalcade stopped at few places to greet the people, with the Prime Minister-Elect flashing the victory sign and waving to the crowds and the party workers. At the BJP headquarters, Modi did not forget to thank the cadres, whose hard work since 1952 had eventually borne fruit, giving the BJP its first-ever absolute majority.

At the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting, Modi was greeted by the senior leaders, including L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj, whose future roles in the government are still to be defined. Modi touched the feet of his mentor L K Advani, who, in return, warmly hugged him and patted him on his back. It was only yesterday that Advani had written in his blog, “I think there should be a detailed analysis on this. It needs to be assessed as to how much contribution has been made by Narendra Modi’s leadership, RSS and BJP towards the party’s victory.” He said that the verdict was “against corruption, inflation and dynasty.”

Modi and the RSS leadership are yet to work out on the portfolios and the responsibility to be given to the disgruntled leaders. Sushma Swaraj is asking for any one of the top key portfolios – Home, Finance, Defence and External Affairs – in the government, while Advani is keen to become the Lok Sabha Speaker. Modi is stated to be not so keen to give the duo what they are aspiring for. Given the massive mandate, he is not constrained to oblige his detractors. In the evening, Modi offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple and performed aarti on the banks of the Ganga, thanking the Divine, for giving him the landslide victory. He had been invoking the name of “Maa Ganga” for calling him to Varanasi, but found no time so far to perform the aarti.