PM Hasina off to Delhi to join Modi’s oath-taking ceremony after third election win

Narendra Modi is set to form the government with his alliance partners for a third consecutive term

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has flown to New Delhi to join the swearing-in ceremony of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, who is set to take the oath of office for a third term.

She left Dhaka, boarding a special Bangladesh Biman flight, at 10:15am on Saturday, said the prime minister’s Deputy Press Secretary Md Noorelahi Mina.

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, or NDA, won 293 seats in the 543-member lower house of parliaments. BJP secured only 240 seats, way behind the 272 mark needed to form a government in its own right.

Despite BJP’s failure to secure an absolute majority in the general elections, the party is set to form the government for the third consecutive term with its alliance partners. Modi is set to be sworn in as the nation’s premier on Saturday.

Conveying her greetings in a message to Modi on Wednesday, Hasina said, “On behalf of the people of Bangladesh and on my own behalf, I wish to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on the resounding victory of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 18th Lok Sabha elections.”

The head of the government hoped that the friendly and close relations between the two countries would continue in all sectors during Modi's new term.