KCR, Jagan Mohan Reddy likely to attend Narendra Modi's swearing-in; invites sent to Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, say reports

Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi is set to take oath on Thursday for a second term in office to head the Union government. While an official guest list for the swearing-in ceremony — scheduled to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi — is yet to be available, there are several reports on the political bigwigs expected to attend the event.

The Hans India reported that Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as KCR, and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress  (YSRC) president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will take a flight together to attend the ceremony.

Reddy is himself set to take oath as the Andhra Pradesh chief minister on Thursday, after his party scored a massive win in the recently-concluded Assembly election. YSRC won 151 seats in the 175-seat Assembly, following which Reddy staked claim to form the state government. [caption id=“attachment_6709551” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Narendra Modi is set to take oath of office for his second term as the prime minister on 30 May in New Delhi. Reuters[/caption] In a bid to form friendly relations with the Andhra Pradesh government, the YSRC chief has asked KCR to attend his ceremony in Vijayawada. According to a Raj Bhawan communique, Reddy’s oath-taking is scheduled for 12.23 pm on Thursday. Both the leaders will later take the same flight to New Delhi for Modi’s swearing-in. Among other important leaders invited for the event are Makkal Needhi Maiam president  Kamal Haasan, and top Tamil actor Rajinikanth, according to reports. Both Haasan and Rajinikanth are, however, yet to respond to the invite. Though there is no confirmed information on the names of foreign dignitaries on Modi’s invite list, it is speculated that countries part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) , and those part of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will be invited. Invitations may also be sent to leaders of the Sri Lanka, P5 countries (US, Russia, UK, France and China), Germany, Israel, as well as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are prominent members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Some reports said Pakistan may not be invited to Modi’s swearing-in this year. In 2014, Modi had called SAARC leaders, including the then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The event then was held at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, with around 2,000 people in attendance. On Thursday, President Ram Nath Kovind will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the prime minister and the new members of the Union Council of Ministers at the ceremony at 7 pm. Modi called on Kovind after the National Democratic Alliance secured an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha last week. Several global leaders, including Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, US president Donald Trump, Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin have congratulated Modi on his victory. In the 543-member Lok Sabha, NDA together has a strength of 353 MPs, while the BJP has a majority of 303. This is the highest every tally for the BJP, which had got just two MPs in its Lok Sabha electoral debut in 1984. With inputs from agencies