Modi to become PM on May 26

New Delhi: India is set to receive its next prime minister in Narendra Modinext week after President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday invited him to take the oath of office on 26 May.

The president also asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader to suggest names for his cabinet of ministers.

Earlier in the day, the prime minister-designate broke down, fighting back tears in the middle of a nationally-televised address to members of the BJP parliament party, moments after they had elected him the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, paving the way for Monday’s swearing-in.

The 63-year-old Modi, making his first visit to Parliament since leading his party to a thumping general election victory, bowed and kissed the steps of the building as he entered it for the meeting of the BJP parliamentary party and its partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Gujarat chief minister Modi gave an emotional speech before the BJP’s newly elected members of Parliament (MPs) of the Lok Sabha and existing members of the Rajya Sabha in the Central Hall of Parliament.

Modi broke down while referring to former home minister L.K. Advani’s remarks, made moments earlier, in which the party’s senior-most leader had used the Hindi word “kripa” (favour). Advani had said Modi had done a favour to the BJP by leading the election campaign.

Choking back tears and, after a pause, asking for a glass of water, Modi said that it was no “favour”—instead, he promised to serve the BJP and India as his “mother.”

Other BJP figures could be seen weeping.

Modi dedicated the coming BJP-led NDA government to the poor.

“The government should be for poor, it should listen to the poor and it should work for poor. Our dream should be to fulfil the dreams of people, including poor, youth, women, dalits and farmers,” he said. The BJP won 282 seats in the 16th general election to the 543-member Parliament, while its alliance partners won another 54.

The four-time Gujarat chief minister said the government must ensure it takes everyone together and development must reach the entire population of the country.

Modi spoke for 30 minutes after he was unanimously elected leader. His name was proposed by Advani and seconded, among others, by Murali Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari.

“It is the strength of the Indian democracy that a person of poor background is standing here. This is the power of our democracy,” Modi said while speaking at the Central Hall of Parliament.

Modi declared in his speech that people had not voted for a fractured mandate in the election because the verdict was for hope. “The time for responsibility has started now. Just like other government in the past which worked for the country, the BJP too should serve the people,” Modi added.

Earlier, describing the victory of BJP as a historic moment, Advani too became emotional and said that such a victory can only come once in a lifetime.

Soon after the parliamentary party meeting for the BJP, leaders of all 29 alliance partners of the NDA too met at the Central Hall and chose Modi leader of the NDA.

Those present included Parkash Singh Badal of Shiromani Akali Dal,Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena, and Telugu Desam Party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu. Chief ministers of BJP ruled states, Vasundhara Rajeof Rajasthan, Raman Singh of Chhattishgarh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh and Manohar Parrikar of Goa were also present for the BJP-NDA meeting.

Modi has been locked in talks since Sunday about the composition of his cabinet. The make-up of the new cabinet remains shrouded in secrecy, but reports suggest lawyer and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley is the frontrunner for the finance portfolio, while BJP president Rajnath Singh could get the home ministry.