Date:26/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/26/stories/2007122660450100.htm

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Narendra Modi sworn in for third time as Chief Minister

Manas Dasgupta

Senior leaders of the BJP and other constituents of the NDA witness function

— Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

HAT-TRICK: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi (right), accompanied by senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh (centre), going round the Sardar Patel Stadium after the swearing-in ceremony in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

AHMEDABAD: Narendra Modi, who led the Bharatiya Janata Party to yet another massive victory in the Assembly elections, was reinstalled as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for the third time in a row on Tuesday.

Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Modi at the Sardar Patel stadium where lakhs of party workers from all over the state had converged to witness the function that lasted hardly five minutes. They kept waving the saffron scarf and cheered as Mr. Modi took the oath in Gujarati.

Unlike in 2002, Mr. Modi alone took the oath and gave no indication when other members of his Cabinet would be installed. A galaxy of senior leaders of the BJP and other constituents of the NDA, besides the chief ministers of all the BJP-ruled states occupied the dais to witness the official ceremony.

Among those present were the former vice-president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the BJP national president, Rajnath Singh, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L.K. Advani, the former president, Venkaiah Naidu, senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi, the Shiv Sena leader and the former Lok Sabha speaker, Manohar Joshi, the NDA convenor, George Fernandes, the former Samata party president, Jaya Jaitley, Chief Ministers Vasundhara Raje Scindia (Rajasthan), Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh), B.C. Khanduri (Uttarakhand), and Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), the deputy chief minister of Bihar, Sushil Modi, the former Chief Ministers Arjun Munda (Chhatisgarh), Y.S. Yeddyurappa (Karnataka), the former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Gopinath Munde, and cricket and television stars Navjyot Singh Sidhu and Smriti Irani.

A large number of sadhus and saints, including some of those who were critical of Mr. Modi before the elections, also attended. After the swearing-in, Mr. Modi, accompanied by the senior party leaders, went round the stadium accepting greetings from the cheering partymen. The crowd was so huge that even Director-General of Police K.R. Kaushik had a tough time entering the stadium.