PM attends Modi's swearing-in ceremony

NEW DELHI, June 9 (Agencies): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi as the prime minister of India for a third consecutive term this evening.
Top leaders from Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Mauritius, and Seychelles joined the swearing-in ceremony of Modi that witnessed a record presence of over 8,000 dignitaries.
The leaders were scheduled to attend a banquet hosted by President Smt. Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the same evening after the oath-taking ceremony.
Marking the oath-taking ceremony, the New Delhi has been put under a stringent multi-layered security measures aimed at ensuring safety in and out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan during the event.
Earlier, a special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the Bangladesh premier and her entourage members landed at the Palam Air Force Station, the VVIP airport, here at 11:51 am (local time) yesterday after around one and a half hour fly.
The Prime Minister was received by Secretary (CPV and OIA) of Indian External Affairs Ministry Muktesh Pardeshi, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma, and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Md. Mustafizur Rahman at the Palam airport.
During her stay in New Delhi, Sheikh Hasina will hold a tete-a-tete (one-to-one meeting) with Narendra Modi after joining the oath-taking ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhaban.
Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to leave New Delhi for Dhaka today afternoon.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday reiterated her country's eagerness to import hydro electricity from Bhutan through India.
She expressed her interest when Bhutanese Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay paid a courtesy call on her at the latter's Place of Residence here.
"It's requires a tripartite agreement and we have already discussed the matter with India," she told the Bhutanese Prime Minister.
"Bhutan is eagerly waiting to export hydroelectricity to Bangladesh," he said.
The Bangladesh premier told her Bhutanese counterpart that a tripartite agreement is necessary to bring electricity from Bhutan through Indian territory and the matter has already been brought to the attention of India.
During the courtesy call, the entire gumbut of bilateral relations between the two countries came up for discussions, Hasan said.
The Bhutanese primeinister thanked Bangladesh premier for building a burn unit in his country and supplied essential drugs for one year.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has paid a visit to veteran BJP leader LK Advani in New Delhi, ANI reports.
Pratibha Advani, the BJP leader's daughter, was also present.
Modi had visited Advani on Friday at his residence.