India’s Modi to take oath as PM for third term with coalition allies
Al JazeeraCoalition members, especially the larger parties, are expected to have demanded concessions, including ministerial posts in the cabinet. India’s Narendra Modi is set to be sworn in as the prime minister for a third term in power, but alongside a set of allies with whom he has formed a coalition after his party failed to get a majority in the April-June election. Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party garnered 240 seats, but fell 32 short in the 543-member lower house of parliament, registering its weakest showing in after a decade of dominating Indian politics. “The coalition will now force the BJP to engage in more consultation.” Zoya Hasan of the Jawaharlal Nehru University said Modi faced potential challenges ahead – warning he may be “meeting his match” in the “crafty politicians” of the TDP’s Naidu and JD’s Kumar. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi, a descendant of top Indian politicians from the Congress party that led the alliance competing with Modi, is expected to be recognised as the country’s official opposition leader.