NATIONAL : Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in for a third consecutive term at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Sunday.

Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Amit Shah also took oath as cabinet ministers, while party president J P Nadda returned to the cabinet after five years, indicating the Prime Minister’s focus on continuity and experience in his third term.

President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to them.

Modi, 73, first became prime minister in 2014 and then returned to office in 2019. He is the second PM after Jawaharlal Nehru to be elected for a third consecutive term.He was re-elected to Lok Sabha from Varanasi.

Top leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region — Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Bhutanese PM Tshering Tobgay and Vice-President of Seychelles Ahmed Afif — were special guests at the function.

In addition to political leaders and eminent persons from different walks of life, members from the transgender community as well as sanitation workers and labourers, who were involved in the construction of the new parliament building, also attended the swearing-in ceremony of Modi and the new council of ministers.

Nearly 9,000 people were estimated to be present at the forecourts of the Rashtrapati Bhavan to witness the swearing-in ceremony. PTI