PM Modi meets BJP veterans Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi

PM Modi with Murli Manohar Joshi. Pic/ PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met BJP veterans L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi at their residences in Delhi, before staking claim to form the government for a third consecutive term at the Centre, reported PTI.

Modi visited Advani soon after being chosen as the leader of the NDA parliamentary party, leader of the BJP parliamentary party and leader of the BJP in the Lok Sabha.

As per the PTI report, after meeting Advani, he visited the residence of Joshi, a former president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Modi was later scheduled to go to the Rashtrapati Bhawan to call on President Droupadi Murmu for staking claim to form the government.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) got 293 seats with 240 seats belonging to the BJP in the 543 seats Lok Sabha.

NDA MPs set to meet on Friday to elect Modi as their leader

The National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, will nominate its new members' leader on Friday, setting the stage for Modi to become prime minister for a record-breaking third term.

According to trusted sources, the swearing-in will probably take place on Sunday. Senior alliance members like N Chandrababu Naidu of the TDP, Nitish Kumar of JD(U), and Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena will meet with President Droupadi Murmu after Modi is elected as the leader of the NDA MPs. The purpose of this meeting is to present the president with the list of parliamentarians who support Modi.

He may be sworn in over the weekend, likely Sunday, they added. With 293 MPs, the NDA easily surpasses the 272 majority needed to form the 543-member Lok Sabha. Senior BJP figures, such as J P Nadda, Amit Shah, and Rajnath Singh, have also been negotiating with allies to figure out a cooperative way to get their fair share of representation in the government, which will be vitally dependent on them to survive.

Since the June 4 results for government formation, the BJP leadership has acted quickly to allay any anxiety following the verdict. The ruling party suffered a blow as it lost the majority for the first time since 2014 and now needs the cooperation of allies to stay in office.