Mamata to attend Modi's oath ceremony

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will attend the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi as second-time Prime Minister tomorrow.

"I have received the invitation to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I had a talk with two-three other chief ministers and we together decided that we will try to attend it as it is a ceremonial programme," Mamata told reporters in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Mamata, whose party Trinamool Congress suffered major setbacks in the election which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party putting up a stunning performance with 18 seats, said "as Chief Ministers, we can always attend ceremonial programmes of the Prime Minister and the President."

Mamata had unleashed a no-hold-bar vitriolic attack on Modi during her electioneering in West Bengal.

Only yesterday, the BJP poached into two legislators and more than 60 municipal councillors of the Trinamool Congress in West BengaI and admitted them into the party-fold. Among them is Subhragshu Roy, son of state BJP leader Mukul Roy, who is credited with engineering the defections in Mamata-led party.

Mukul, once a confidante of Mamata, switched over to the BJP a few years ago and there is speculation that he could be among the ministers to be drafted in by Modi in his new government.

Modi is keen to have more than one party leader from West Bengal in his council of ministers in order to send a correct signal to voters in the state where fresh assembly elections are due in the summer of 2021.

It is understood that invitations had been sent out to several opposition leaders, chief ministers and Governors of different states for the swearing-in ceremony to be held in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday evening.