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President invites Vajpayee

President K R Narayanan on Monday formally invited National Democratic Alliance leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee to form government at the Centre.

Vajpayee will be sworn in on October 13 at 1030 hours, a Rashtrapati Bhavan release said.

Vajpayee, who called on the President at 1230 hours at the Rastrapati Bhavan, announced that he would constitute a two-tier ministry and the names would be forwarded to Narayanan by Tuesday evening.

The meeting between Vajpayee and Narayanan lasted 40 minutes.

The President handed over the formal letter to Vajpayee that read: "I have the pleasure to invite you to form the government..."

The letter went on to say that the election results conveyed to the President by the Election Commission of India and the documents expressing support have satisfied the President that Vajpayee will command a majority in the newly-elected House.

Earlier, an NDA delegation led by George Fernandes met the President for 20 minutes and informed him that the alliance had the support of 303 members, including 182 members of the BJP.

Those supporting the NDA are the Biju Janata Dal (10), Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (12), Indian National Lok Dal (5), Janata Dal-United (20), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (4), Manipur Congress Party (1), National Conference (1), Shiromani Akali Dal (2), Shiv Sena (15), Sikkim Democratic Front (1), Trinamul Congress (8), Loktantrik Congress (2) and MNF (1).

The delegation informed the President that the TDP has also offered support, raising the NDA's strength to 303 in the Lok Sabha.

UNI

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