President invites Modi to be PM, swearing-in May 26

New Delhi, May 20 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday invited Narendra Modi to be the next prime minister, and will swear him in May 26, a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said.

"As Narendra Modi has been elected leader of the BJP parliamentary party and BJP has the majority support in the house of the people (Lok Sabha), the president appointed Narendra Modi as the prime minister of India and requested him to advise the names of others to be appointed members of the council of ministers," a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

Modi, who was announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its prime ministerial candidate September last year, led the party to a thumping majority with 282 Lok Sabha seats.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan statement came after Modi was officially elected as leader of the BJP's parliamentary party as well as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in parliament.

A delegation of NDA leaders met the president, after which, Modi, escorted by SPG commandos, reached Rashtrapati Bhavan to meet Mukherjee.

Speaking to reporters after the short meeting which lasted 10 to 15 minutes, Modi said: "The president has given me a letter...the oath taking ceremony will take place here (Rashtrapati Bhavan) on May 26 at 6 p.m."

"I thank all of you," he told hundreds of media persons, showing the letter that he received from the president.

During their meeting, both Modi and Mukherjee shook hands and exchanged bouquets.

The president congratulated Modi on his victory.

The NDA delegation that met Mukherjee earlier comprised BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and Akali Dal's Prakash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal,

Telugu Desam Party leader N. Chandrababu Naidu, Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray, Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan and Naga People's Front chief Neiphiu Rio also joined the NDA delegation.