Sonia, Rahul to attend Modi swearing-in

NEW DELHI, May 25 (agencies): Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul will represent the party at the swearing-in ceremony of prime minister-elect Narendra Modi  Monday.
Sonia, the chief of Congress-led UPA, congratulated Modi on May 20, hours after he was elected leader of BJP parliamentary party and the NDA, thereby setting the stage for him to take over as Prime Minister.
Congress Vice-President Rahul led the party to its worst debacle in Lok Sabha polls.
Around 3,000 people, including heads of SAARC countries, are expected to be present in the Rashtrapati Bhawan forecourt for Modi's swearing in.
Modi will hold brief bilateral talks with each leader the following day.
This is the first time that the heads of SAARC nations have been invited for the swearing-in of an Indian prime minister.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif  Saturday confirmed he was joining the ceremony. Sharif's attendance will be a first for a Pakistani PM.
Bangladesh Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury is representing the country as the prime minister is in Japan on a pre-scheduled visit.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will not attend the ceremony as she has a pre-scheduled programme on the day celebrating the Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam's birth anniversary.
The state's finance minister Amit Mitra and party general secretary Mukul Roy will represent her.
Meanwhile: Fate of more than ten state governors, including Karnataka's HR Bhardwaj and Punjab's Shivraj V Patil, appointed by the outgoing UPA government hangs in balance with indications that the new dispensation may politely ask them to vacate the Raj Bhavans.
Officials said the Narendra Modi government, which will take charge on Monday, is unlikely to go for wholesale sacking of the governors but there is every possibility that some of them may be politely asked to put in papers to pave way for new appointments.
"It is quite normal for a new government to ask some of the occupants of Raj Bhavans to resign as their scheme of things may not suit those holding the high constitutional posts," an official said.
Among the governors, Bhardwaj (Karnataka), Jagannath Pahadiya (Haryana), Devanand Konwar (Tripura) and Margaret Alva (Rajasthan) will complete their full five-year term in next three-four months.
While Bhardwaj had a strained relationship with the previous BJP government in Karnataka, Alva reportedly shares cordial relations with Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
Those who will complete their tenure in six to eight months are - Kamla Beniwal (Gujarat), MK Narayanan (West Bengal), JB Patnaik (Assam), Patil (Punjab) and Urmila Singh (Himachal Pradesh).
Beniwal's spat with the Modi government in Gujarat over appointment of Lokayukta in the state is well known.