PM returns home after attending Modi's swearing-in ceremony

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned home from New Delhi Monday night after attending the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi as the prime minister of India for a third consecutive term.

A special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the prime minister and her entourage members landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport here at 7.15pm.

The flight earlier departed from Palam Air Force Station, the VVIP airport in New Delhi at 4.45pm (India time).

Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, India Jaideep Mazumder, Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pranay Verma and Bangladesh High Commissioner in New Delhi Md. Mustafizur Rahman saw the premier off at the airport.

Sheikh Hasina went to New Delhi on Saturday to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the cabinet of Modi government at her Indian counterpart's invitation.

During her stay in New Delhi, the Prime Minister held a tete-a-tete (one-to-one meeting) with Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhaban on Sunday evening.

During the meeting, Sheikh Hasina congratulated her Indian counterpart for becoming the prime minister of India for a third consecutive term and invited him to visit Bangladesh at his convenient time.

They also expressed their hopes to further deepen the existing bilateral relations in future.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was sworn-in led by Narendra Modi on Sunday evening.

Top leaders from Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Mauritius, and Seychelles also joined the swearing-in ceremony of Modi that witnessed a record presence of over 8,000 dignitaries.

The leaders later attended a banquet hosted by President Smt. Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the same evening.

However, President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe held a meeting with the Bangladesh premier in her Place of Residence in New Delhi this morning.

Later, Union Minister of India and its former External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar paid a call on the Bangladesh premier at her Place of Residence.

Earlier on Sunday morning, the prime minister met with BJP Senior Leader LK Advani at his New Delhi Residence and exchanged pleasantries.

Later in the afternoon, Bhutanese Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay paid a courtesy call on the Bangladesh prime minister at the latter's Place of Residence in New Delhi.

Earlier on Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited his Bangladesh counterpart to attend the swearing-in ceremony of his government during a conversation over telephone. Sheikh Hasina accepted the invitation.

Modi's BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won the general elections with 293 seats while India's opposition secured 234 seats.