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India is expected to extend invitations to leaders from neighbouring countries, such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s swearing-in ceremony over the weekend. Sources familiar with the matter revealed this information on Wednesday. Modi is poised to begin his historic third consecutive term as Prime Minister, following the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with 293 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
According to these sources, prominent figures from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and Mauritius are likely to receive invitations to attend Modi’s oath-taking ceremony.
The media office of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe confirmed that Modi extended an invitation to him for the swearing-in ceremony. Wickremesinghe has accepted the invitation.
It said Wickremesinghe congratulated Modi on the electoral victory in a phone call.
“During the conversation, Prime Minister @narendramodi invited President Wickremesinghe to his swearing-in ceremony, which President @RW_UNP accepted,” it said.
Modi also had a phone conversation with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
In the phone conversation, Modi invited Hasina to attend his swearing-in ceremony and she accepted it, diplomatic sources said.
The people cited above said Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth are set to be invited to Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.
Modi had a separate phone conversations with Prachanda.
The formal invitations are set to be sent on Thursday, said one of the people cited above.
The leaders of regional grouping SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries attended Modi’s first swearing-in ceremony when he took the reins as the prime minister after a massive electoral victory for the BJP.
Leaders of the BIMSTEC countries attended Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in 2019 when he became prime minister for the second consecutive term.
Modi is likely to take oath on June 8.
Though the BJP could not get a majority on its own in the polls, the party-led alliance secured 293 seats out of 543. The majority mark in the Lower House is 272.
Inputs from PTI
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