Modi elected leader of NDA, to stake claim to form Govt

NEW DELHI, May 25
Leaders of the 40-member National Democratic Alliance met in national capital Delhi this evening to formally name Narendra Modi as the national coalition’s leader and the next Prime Minister.
The NDA leaders will then head to Rashtrapati Bhavan to convey their decision to President Ram Nath Kovind at 7 pm. PM Modi will meet President Kovind an hour later to formally stake claim and pick up his invite to form the next Government.
The Prime Minister is expected to take oath early next week after visiting his home State Gujarat to seek his mother’s blessings and then fly down for a quick thanksgiving trip to his constituency Varanasi where he received 64 per cent of all votes.
The NDA swept the Lok Sabha elections winning 349 of the 542 seats for which polls were held and garnered almost 45 per cent of the votes across the country.
Earlier Saturday, President Kovind dissolved the 16th Lok Sabha with immediate effect on recommendation of the Union Cabinet, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to hit the ground running with a 1,000-day agenda that will run up to the first half of 2022 which will also mark the 75th anniversary of India’s inde- pendence, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity.
The 1000-day agenda will include several initiatives, from empowering women in agriculture to sending an Indian into space as part of Modi’s promise of creating a “New India” in his second term. Hindustan Times