PM Modi government day 1 LIVE Updates: From left, Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Kyrgyzstan President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid, Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Myanmar President U Win Myint, Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Thailand’s special envoy Grisada Boonrach . (AP Photo )PM Modi government Day 1 LIVE Updates: After an astonishing victory in the Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi, who was sworn in as India’s Prime Minister on Thursday, will start his second term in office today. With a series of bilateral meetings in the line-up, Modi will meet the leaders of countries from BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), who were invited for the oath-taking.
Modi’s first engagement is with Bangladesh President Mohammed Abdul Hamid at 10.30 am in Hyderabad House. It will be followed by meetings with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and Bhutan Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering. In fact, Modi began his term soon after the swearing-in ceremony and the State Banquet in Rashtrapati Bhavan, as he met Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov at 10.15 pm yesterday.
Read | PM Modi’s second term, Day 1: Meeting neighbours
The Prime Minister’s move to invite leaders from BIMSTEC countries, Kyrgyz Republic and Mauritius, signals a major outreach to India’s neighbourhood from the Bay of Bengal to Central Asia, as well as the Indian diaspora. The key message, however, is the outreach to BIMSTEC, which includes Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan, besides India.
PM Modi meets Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena
By inviting leaders from BIMSTEC countries to his swearing-in ceremony, sources said, Modi has made a carefully calibrated move that signals a major outreach to India’s neighbourhood from the Bay of Bengal to Central Asia, as well as the Indian diaspora.
Door opens to outside talent: S Jaishankar steps in
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on Thursday, he became the first former Foreign Secretary to become a Cabinet minister. Jaishankar, a career diplomat from the 1977 batch, was handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the post of Foreign Secretary in January 2015. After he became Foreign Secretary for a two-year term, Jaishankar shaped policies in line with Modi’s idea of an aspirational and assertive India — from the outreach to West Asian countries, including the UAE and Israel, to negotiations with Japan on the nuclear deal; from playing hardball with the Chinese on Doklam to the Belt and Road Initiative and Nuclear Suppliers Group. Read More
First new cabinet meeting to take place today
The first meeting of the new 57-member Council of Ministers will take place at 5:30 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will begin his second term in office today, introduced a total of 24 new faces in his cabinet. Former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar's entry as Cabinet minister has come as surprise. Meanwhile, former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj found no place in the new government, as did 36 others from the previous Council of Ministers.