President leaves for India to join Modi's oath-taking ceremony

President Md Abdul Hamid left Dhaka for India on Wednesday afternoon on a three-day visit to join the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India.

 “A VVIP flight (BG-1513) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited carrying the President and his entourage members took off Hazrat Shahjalal (R) International Airport at 5:45 pm,” President Press Secretary M Joynal Abedin said, reports BSS.

President’s wife Rashida Khanam and Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque accompanied Abdul Hamid.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, cabinet secretary, chiefs of the three services, the dean of the diplomatic corps and high civil and military officials were present at the airport to see the President off.

During the three-day visit, Bangladesh President will pay a courtesy call on his Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind apart from joining the oath-taking ceremony.

The Indian President will administer the Oath of Office and Secrecy to the Prime Minister and other members of Union Council of Ministers on May 30 at 7:00pm at Rashtrapati Bhavan, according to a statement issued by Indian President’s Secretariat earlier.

Kovind has appointed Narendra Modi as Prime Minister after the landslide victory of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the recently concluded India’s national election.

Modi was appointed as the Prime Minister for the second consecutive term soon after the NDA leaders on Saturday elected Modi as their leader in the parliament, according to official sources.

President Abdul Hamid will return home on May 31.