The Hindu : New faces likely in Modi team

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 22, 2002

National

National

New faces likely in Modi team

By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD DEC. 21. The preparations are in full swing for the swearing-in of Narendra Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat tomorrow to begin his second stint in office.

Mr. Modi, who was elected leader of the 126-member BJP Legislature Party on Monday, preferred to defer the oath-taking ceremony by five days to hold it tomorrow to make it a grand show in the presence of about a lakh of party workers and supporters.

To facilitate people from all over the State to attend the ceremony, it will be held here for the first time, instead of the State capital of Gandhinagar and at the Sardar Patel stadium to accommodate more people.

A few Ministers are also likely to be sworn in along with Mr. Modi, who had earlier stated that he intended to start with a token ministry to be expanded after the swearing-in of all the newly-elected members later this month. With nearly a dozen of the senior Ministers in the outgoing Cabinet defeated in the elections, Mr. Modi would have an opportunity to introduce new faces.

The Chief Minister had a couple of rounds of discussions with senior party leaders, including the former Chief Minister, Keshubhai Patel, the State party president, Rajendrasinh Rana, the Union Textiles Minister, Kashiram Rana, and some Central leaders over the composition of the ministry.

The sources close to the caretaker Chief Minister's office, however, said so far no intimations had been sent to anyone to take oath with Mr. Modi tomorrow.

The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee as well as his deputy, L.K. Advani, and a host of Central Ministers and BJP leaders are expected to attend the function.

Besides a special stage being erected for Mr. Vajpayee, Mr. Advani and other senior leaders, a temporary elevator had been erected in the stadium for the convenience of Mr. Vajpayee, the Governor, Sunder Singh Bhandari, Mr. Keshubhai Patel and other leaders. Two more stages, one each for the VVIP guests and another for sadhus and mahants, are also being erected.

A number of present and former Chief Ministers, including Mayawati (Uttar Pradesh), Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu), Om Prakash Chautala (Haryana), and others are also expected to attend the ceremony besides film stars, Hema Malini, Juhi Chawla and Sekhar Suman, who had also campaigned for the party in the elections, and the Minister, Vinod Khanna, adding colour to the ceremony.

Tight security and traffic arrangements are being made for the event.

Mr. Modi, who first took the oath of office on October 7 last year when he was appointed Chief Minister by the party high command replacing Mr. Keshubhai Patel, resigned on July 19 and also recommended dissolution of the State Assembly in the wake of the Godhra train carnage and communal riots.

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