PM Narendra Modi to host Chinese president Xi Jinping for an informal summit

PM elect Narendra Modi, who is set to take oath on Thursday, will host Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year for an informal summit. The development was confirmed by an Indian foreign ministry spokesman through an official statement on Wednesday. The statement said that the venue and date for the meeting will be finalised later and both the sides are in touch for the same. 

"During the first Informal Summit in Wuhan, Chinese President Xi had accepted the invitation of PM Modi to visit India for the next Informal Summit in 2019. The two sides are in touch, through diplomatic channels, to finalise the date and venue for the meeting," the spokesman said.

Both leaders have met several times over the past year to defuse tensions and bolster trade ties after a military standoff at their high-altitude Himalayan border in 2017 rekindled fears of war between the two Asian nations.

PM Modi, Amit Shah hold meeting

Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah held a marathon meeting on Tuesday to discuss crucial aspects of the new government and the likely allocation of ministerial berths. The meeting took place two days ahead of the swearing-in of the new government, scheduled for May 30. All eyes are now on the Council of Ministers, with several names doing the rounds.

PTI reported while quoting sources in the BJP that senior party leaders Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Suresh Prabhu, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, Maneka Gandhi and JP Nadda are likely to retain Cabinet berths. Harsimrat Kaur Badal of Akali Dal and Ram Vilas Paswan of LJP are also likely to be inducted in the Modi Cabinet.

The BJP has 303 MPs while Shiv Sena has 18 MPs. The JD-U is the third largest party in the National Democratic Alliance.