Modi third PM to take oath in Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt

New Delhi, May 20 (IANS) Narendra Modi, who will be sworn-in as India's 14th prime minister May 26, will be the third prime minister to take oath in the expansive forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, officials said.

They said prime ministers Chandra Shekhar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee also took oath in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The oath-taking will be telecast live to the nation.

President Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday formally appointed Modi as the next prime minister after the Bhartaiya Janata Party leaders met him along with senior leaders of the National Democratic Alliance, and staked claim to form a government.

It would be the first time, as Modi has himself pointed out, that someone from the post-Independence generation would lead the country.