Narendra Modi to take oath as Gujarat CM tomorrow

Narendra ModiAhmedabad, Dec 24: Narendra Modi will take oath as Chief Minister of Gujarat for a third time on Tuesday.

Modi will be sworn in by Governor Naval Kishore Sharma at Sardar Patel Stadium in Gandhinagar at 12:50 p. m. The ceremony will coincide with the birthday of senior party leader A B Vajpayee.

Earlier, Modi was scheduled to take oath on December 27.

Meanwhile, the newly-elected BJP MLAs met in Gandhinagar today elected Modi as the leader of the Gujarat BJP legislature party unanimously.

As the present term of the Gujarat Government ended today, Modi met Governor Nawal Kishor Sharma and submitted his resignation.

Sharma accepted Modi’s resignation and asked him to continue as the ''care-taker'' Chief Minister till the new government is formed.

The meeting was attended by 117 BJP MLAs including Modi at the Town Hall.

The Parliamentary Board of the party yesterday recommended his name for the post of Chief Minister.

The BJP registered a thumping victory by winning in 117 seats, ten less from its 2002 figure.

The Congress on the other hand managed to win 59 assembly seats.

Modi registered a thumping victory in the Maninagar Assembly constituency by defeating Congress' candidate and Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dinsha Patel by 87, 000 votes.

Modi became Gujarat's Chief Minister in October 2001, promoted to that office when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel resigned, following the defeat of the BJP in by-elections.

He was re-elected in December 2002 as chief minister with 126 seats in the 182-member assembly.

His term has been both attacked for mismanagement of and complicity in the 2002 Gujarat violence, and praised for being an excellent administrator who turned Gujarat into an economic powerhouse. (ANI)

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