20 May : President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Wednesday invited UPA leader Dr Manmohan Singh to form the government while Singh staked claim for forming the next government at the centre.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh along with Congress President Sonia Gandhi met President Pratibha Devisingh Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhavan today along with the letter of support from 322 MPs and stake the claim to form the government.
Dr Singh will be the Prime Minister for the second time on 22nd May at ”a mutually convenient time.”Earlier in the day, all pre-poll allies of the United Progressive Alliance met at 10, Janpath in New Delhi.
At the meeting DMK chief M Karunanidhi proposed Dr. Manmohan Singh’s name as the next Prime Minister which was seconded by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.Earlier, Sonia Gandhi was re-elected the Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance by its leaders.TC, with 19 MPs, and DMK with 18 are TC, with 19 MPs, and DMK with 18 are the two large constituents of the UPA coalition after Congress which has won 216 seats.
The coalition has already received support of a large number of parties and it has now the backing of around 315 MPs, much higher than the required 272 for a majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha.