New Delhi: The constituents of the 29-party NDA greeted Narendra Modi as a “strong” personality with “extraordinary capabilities” under whom the “country will prosper and attain a major stature in the world”.
Mr Modi’s first Cabinet is expected to be fairly small, sources said that he may have a team of just 15 ministers as he wanted to stick to his mantra of “minimum government, maximum governance”.
Speculation is rife that the Akali Dal may not join the Modi government, at least initially. Mr Modi’s government will be the first non-Congress government to take office in 30 years with an absolute majority. His election as parliamentary party leader was received with the thumping of desks as the Central Hall of Parliament reverberated to cries of “Bharat Mata ki jai”.
The BJP’s Chief Ministers were also present on the occasion. After Mr Modi was elected as the coalition leader, NDA leaders, called on President Pranab Mukherjee.
Mr Modi said the NDA allies will be as important for him as they would have been had the BJP not got a majority on its own. While the BJP has 282 members, the coalition has a strength of 336 in the Lok Sabha.
Most of the BJP leaders were seen wearing saffron, including Maneka Gandhi, Uma Bharti and Yogi Adityanath. The backdrop of flowers in the Central Hall was made out in the colours of the Indian tricolour.
“I accept the responsibility you have entrusted upon me. I assure you today when we meet in 2019 and I present my report card, you will not feel let down. You will never get an opportunity to look down on what my government will do,” Mr Modi said.
He dedicated his government to the poor and the common man, saying, “I believe a government is one which thinks of the poor, listens to the poor and lives for the poor.”
