Live: Narendra Modi meets his ministers-to-be over tea; Cabinet list sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan

New Delhi: Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi is all set to herald a new era in independent India as he gears to take oath as India’s 15^th Prime Minister. The man of the moment, who will be sworn in as the country’s next Prime Minister at 6 pm on Monday.

Modi began his day by paying homage to the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, at Rajghat, followed by a visit to the residence of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to seek his blessings.

A number of Delhi BJP leaders including Harsh Vardhan, Vijay Goel and Vijender Gupta were present at Rajghat.

Touted as a mega event, the swearing-in ceremony will witness the participation of SAARC nations including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief and President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa. The move to invite SAARC leaders, which is first of its kind in the history of Independent India, is seen in diplomatic circles as a “masterstroke” by Modi.

Keeping in line with his promise to provide “maximum governance and minimum government”, Mr Modi in a statement and tweets, which were issued late last night, indicated “unprecedented” changes in ministry formation, with “the top layers downsized”. A Gujarat Bhawan statement said, “Focus is on convergence in the activities of various ministries where one cabinet minister will be heading a cluster of ministries working complimentary sectors.”

BJP is offering ministerial berths to its pre-poll allies in the NDA. Sources said, each of the allies – Shiv Sena, LJP, SAD, Apna Dal and others – might get share in the power with one ministerial assignment.

The PM designate also met former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to seek his blessings, after which he headed to Gujarat Bhawan. 

17 Cabinet rank ministers and 18 ministers of state expected to be sworn in today along with Modi. Prospective ministers started getting calls from Rashtrapati Bhavan to confirm cabinet placements, sources mentioned. 

Venkaiah Naidu, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar, Gopiram Munde, Thawar Gehlot, Ramvilas Paswan, Jitendar Singh, Maeka Gandhi, Santosh Gangwar, Uma Bharti, VK Singh were among the Cabinet hopefuls who are meeting Narendra Modi at Gujarat Bhawan.

Modi, who led BJP to an astounding victory in the Lok Sabha polls, will be sworn in as the Prime Minister this evening in the forecourt of the majestic Rashtrapati Bhawan at a grand function to be attended by foreign dignitaries including SAARC leaders.

President Pranab Mukherjee would administer the oath of office and secrecy to Modi and his Council of Ministers in the presence of a host of leaders, including outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi, besides leaders of various other parties and chief ministers of a number of states.

Modi's mother Hiraben is also expected to attend the ceremony.