Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday reached Delhi to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan. “Our Southern Neighbour arrives! President of #SriLanka @MaithripalaS lands in India to attend PM @narendramodi and Council of Ministers’ swearing-in ceremony,” tweeted External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled to be held at 7 pm in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. President Ram Nath Kovind will administer the oath of office and secrecy at the function. Leaders from all BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) member-states have confirmed their attendance for the event. The bloc’s member nations include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand besides India. Notably, Sri Lankan then President and current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had attended Modi’s swearing-in as Prime Minister in 2014. This year around 8,000 guests are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony, 3000 more than in 2014. President of Bangladesh Abdul Hamid, President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena, President of Myanmar U Win Myint, Prime Minister of Bhutan Lotay Tshering, Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli will also be attending the august ceremony. The President of Kyrgyzstan, Sooronbay Jeenbekov will also be present at the event. Several overseas friends of BJP from 15 countries, including the US, Australia, Germany and the UK, have also been invited to the oath-taking ceremony.
