President Murmu appoints Modi as PM-designate

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Friday appointed NDA Parliamentary Party leader Narendra Modi as Prime Minister-designate and the new government will take oath on Sunday evening.

Exercising powers vested in her under Article 75(1) of the Constitution of India, the President appointed Modi as the Prime Minister and handed over the letter of appointment to him who called on her at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday evening, according to a press communique of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Earlier, leaders of the BJP-led NDA had called on the President and handed over their letters of support for Modi, who was elected as the leader of the NDA Parliamentary Party. The NDA delegation was led by J P Nadda, President of the BJP and included Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah from BJP and leaders of constituents of NDA — N Chandrababu Naidu, Nitish Kumar, Eknath Shinde, Chirag Paswan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Jayant Chaudhary, Anupriya Patel and others.

Addressing the media in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Modi said he has been appointed as Prime Minister-designate by the President.

“The President has asked me to work as the PM-designate and she has informed me about the oath ceremony,” Modi said and added that he has informed the President that they will be comfortable if the event is held on the evening of June 9.

He said the Rashtrapati Bhavan will work out the details of the oath taking ceremony on Sunday by when he would hand over the list of the Council of Ministers to the President.

“This 18th Lok Sabha is an important milestone towards fulfilling those dreams when the country will celebrate the 100 years of independence in 2047,” Modi said.

This 18th Lok Sabha is a House of new energy, youthful energy, and people have given the NDA government one more chance, Modi said.

The BJP-led NDA won 293 seats in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections and enjoys a majority in the 543-member House.