Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be administered oath of office for his second term along with his new council of ministers on Thursday. Modi is the first Bharatiya Janata Party leader who has been elected for the second time after completion of his five-year tenure, a feat so far achieved only by two Congress leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

Many BJP leaders are of the view that most key members of the previous Cabinet could be retained.

India invited leaders of the BIMSTEC countries as well as Kyrgyz President Jeenbekov, the current chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and Mauritius PM Jugnauth for the Modi's swearing-in.

Pak claimed that the Indian Prime Minister's 'internal politics' do not permit him to extend an invitation to his Pakistani counterpart.

President of the Kyrgyz Republic, who is the current Chair of the SCO, and the PM of Mauritius, who was the chief guest at this year's Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, have also been invited, the MEA said.

"The Prime Minister thanked the Prime Minister of Pakistan for his telephone call and greetings," MEA said.

Here are some the reactions.

The Election Commission will start counting votes for Vidhan Sabha elections on May 23. The assembly elections were held in four states -- Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim -- simultaneously with the Lok Sabha Elections over April and May. The Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim Assemblies went to polls in the duration between 11 April and 19 May, and the Election Commission will declare the results for at least 534 assembly seats - which is almost as many as the Lok Sabha seats - on May 23.

Mary will be up against fellow Indian and Asian Championships bronze medallist Nikhat Zareen in a blockbuster semi-final as the duo confirmed two medals for India.

'It is only because of the Congress that we became a secular republic.' 'As we enter a period where another political force has became dominant, it will be interesting to see if this legacy of Nehru and the Congress is sustained or we are taken in a new direction,' says Aakar Patel.

'From Doklam to Wuhan and the return of the India-China relationship to its previous equilibrium is indeed a major contribution of President Xi and PM Modi. Without any doubt they deserve the kudos for their sagacity and their wisdom,' says Ambassador Gautam Bambawale, India's envoy to China during the Wuhan summit.

India had a record voter turnout of 66.4 per cent in 2014. This is still lower than the global median of 68.03 per cent.

Claude Arpi's fascinating account of the Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang in March 1959.

'If we play our cards right, we may even benefit from the competition between the US and China as seen from increased investment from each of these countries into India.' 'The size of our market gives us an important lever of power which we shall have to play adroitly and intelligently,' points out Ambassador Gautam Bambawale -- who served as India's envoy to China -- in the Professor V M Dandekar Memorial Lecture 2019, delivered on March 8, 2019 in Pune.

'As China rises and India grows to reclaim their earlier positions on the world stage as two of the largest economies and most important countries, there will indeed be some contention between these two powers.' 'There will also be plenty of space and room for cooperation amongst the two of us.' 'As our economic size increases to match the fact that we are the two most populous nations on earth, it will be all the more important for us to keep the interests of our peoples as well as those of the rest of the world in mind.' 'We shall have to grow together rather than as separate and disparate entities,' points out Ambassador Gautam Bambawale -- who served as India's ambassador to China -- in the 7th annual lecture of the Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents on March 1, 2019.

They said they stand alongside India in defeating terrorism.

Police identified the suicide bomber as Adil Ahmed, who officials said joined the Jaish in 2018.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh likely to visit Jammu and Kashmir tomorrow.

'Glaciers are melting all across the region.'

The move is part of recommendations made by a task force on the use of space technology in improving border management which have been accepted by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Make sure that these places feature in your 2019 travel bucket list.

'Why can I not access all these things -- Bhut Jolokia, Dalle, Kaachu, Bhakri, Ghari and everything else -- more easily?' asks Aakar Patel.

She also said the Kartarpur corridor initiative was not linked to the dialogue process with Pakistan.

The 2016 SAARC Summit was to be held in Islamabad. But after the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit

The Bollywood superstar was in the hilly state of Arunachal for the 6th edition of Adventure at Menchuka.

The new PM would be more than unwise to attempt steering away from India into an all-encompassing Chinese embrace that would ultimately swamp Bhutanese identity, says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).

Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka are the other SAFF nations to severe ties with South West Asian Football Federation on the eve of the Asian Football Confederation Congress in Kuala Lumpur.

The Indian cricketing legend is in Bhutan to speard awareness about UNICEF Handwash initiative.

News of all that's transpired on and off the football field

'There is no shortage of material for the Opposition to develop and deploy a campaign against the government.' 'Are we seeing signs that it exists? I confess that I do not see it,' says Aakar Patel.

IOC President Thomas Bach asked members of the Olympic body at its session in Buenos Aires to support the creation of a refugee team, along the lines of the one that competed at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. The members responded with applause.

'We have unleashed a nastiness and viciousness in ourselves that had been bottled up before.' 'This government has helped uncork it, possible forever, and to my mind that is its most significant achievement.'

The towering face of Kailash reminded us that we were but insignificant participants in a pilgrimage ritual that has played out over millennia for people of four major religions -- Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Bon, notes Sonia Trikha Shukla.

'While wishing the Tibetan leader a long and healthy life, one can hope for a 'selection' of the Tibetan leader in the Indian Himalayas.' 'It is vital for Tibetan Buddhism, but it is also in India's political interests,' says Claude Arpi.

Thangjam Tababi Devi became India's first judo medallist at the Olympic level, claiming a silver at the ongoing Youth Games after losing to Venezuela's Maria Giminez in the final of the women's 44kg category.

Mane, who qualified third for the final, shot 247.5 to win the silver while Grigorii Shamakov took the gold with 249.2. Aleksa Mitrovic of Serbia won the bronze with a score of 227.9.

Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan is located across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab's Gurdaspur district.

'Sometimes I wonder if she is real.'

Khan proposed a meeting between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this month.

A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday