A gentle knock at the door of Pratibha Patil's South Avenue residence on Wednesday afternoon will kick start a string of ceremonial drills to usher in the 13th President of the 57-year-old republic.
NEW DELHI: A gentle knock at the door of Pratibha Patil's South Avenue residence on Wednesday afternoon will kick start a string of ceremonial drills to usher in the 13th President of the 57-year-old republic.
The drill will begin with the arrival of Military Secretary to President Major General Vinod Chopra at Patil's 9,South Avenue house in the backyard of the Presidential Palace.
Gen Chopra will invite Patil and her spouse, Devi Singh to Rashtrapati Bhavan where she will be meeting outgoing President A P J Abdul Kalam in the study room and the countdown for change of guard at Raisina Hills will begin.
Kalam, sitting on the right side of the Presidential vehicle, will be accompanied by Patil to the saluting dais where Presidential Body Guards (PBGs) will give a national salute the outgoing President.
Thereafter, the two VIPs will leave for Parliament House led by the mounted PBGs. They will be received at the gate by Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha K Rahman Khan, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chaterjee and Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.
Here also Kalam will be presented a national salute by the PBG with Patil standing next to him.
Immediately after this, they will move in a procession inside the Central Hall of Parliament where Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta will seek Kalam's permission to read out the Election Commission communique on Presidential polls.
And then, the Chief Justice will administer the oath of office to Patil while a 21-gun salute would be given to the new President and their seating position in Central Hall as well as in the Presidential car will interchange.
The new President along with Kalam will come out of the Central Hall and Patil will receive the first national salute from the PBGs.
From Parliament, the two VVIPs would return to the Presidential Palace where they would again go back to the study for a brief while, giving time for dignitaries to assemble in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
After a brief while, the new President will make her first appearance in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan where the Military Secretary would introduce her to Defence Minister A K Antony and three Services Chiefs.
She will then inspect the first Inter-Services Guard of Honour after which she would go back to the study of the Presidential Palace and return with the outgoing President.
Kalam, as the outgoing Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, will be presented the last Inter-Services Guard of Honour after which Patil will drop him at 26, Mall Road Guest House readied by the Amry for the missile-man.
The scientist will leave later in the night on Wednesday for Chennai where he will be taking up an assignment with the Anna University.
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