Amid party leadership drama, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh to attend PM Modi's swearing-in ceremony on Thursday

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be attending the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 30. 

Earlier in the day, sources had informed Republic Media Network that the chief ministers of the Congress party had made a collective decision to skip the oath-taking ceremony if Rahul Gandhi misses the event scheduled on May 30. 

However, now along with the Congress president, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will be in attendance amid the resignation row, wherein Rahul Gandhi is insistent to step down from his position in the grand old party.

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However, the chief minister West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has stepped back from attending the ceremony claiming that the BJP attempted to earn political points disseminating the information that 54 of its workers were murdered in poll violence in the state. Along with her, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, chief minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh, chief minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel, and DMK chief MK Stalin will miss the mega swearing-in ceremony. 

At 7 am, PM Modi is scheduled to visit Rajpath to pay his tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, at 7:15 am he will visit 'Sadaiv Atal' - the memorial of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, at 8 am he will visit the National War Memorial to pay his tributes to the brave soldiers of the nation. 

More than 6000 guests are expected to attend the swearing-in of the Prime Minister that will be held at the forecourt — the stately path between the main gates and the main building in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Adding to the already hefty list of attendees of PM-elect Modi's swearing-in, foreign leaders from the member states of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) namely Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, and Bhutan are reportedly attending the ceremony.

In 2014, when Narendra Modi took the oath for the first time, 24 Cabinet and 21 ministers of state took the oath along with him. The guests included around 3500 dignitaries including head of SAARC countries ( Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives).

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In 2019, as Modi takes the oath for his second consecutive term, here is the list of international leaders who will attend the ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

President of Bangladesh - Md. Abdul Hamid, President of Sri Lanka - Maithripala Sirisena, President of the Kyrgyz Republic - Sooronbay Jeenbekov, President of Myanmar - U Win Myint, Prime Minister of Mauritius - Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Nepal -  K.P. Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Bhutan - Dr. Lotay Tshering, Special Envoy of Thailand - Mr. Grisada Boonrach.