New Delhi: With the anticipation over the upcoming Modi 3.0 cabinet growing as Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to take oath for a third straight term as the head of a coalition government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – a key player in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) – appears all set to keep four key Raisina ministries including Home, Defence, Finance and External Affairs portfolios, Republic has learnt from reliable sources.

Earlier during the day on Tuesday, Modi chaired a meeting of the NDA members who unanimously elected him as the bloc's leader.

NDA MPs will meet on June 7 to formally elect Modi as their leader and the leaders of coalition will then approach the President to submit their letters of support, news agency PTI quoted HAM (Secular) leader and former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi as saying after the meeting.

The new government is likely to be sworn in over the weekend. However, the amount of time the BJP and its allies take to reach an agreement on matters like the share of ministries and other terms of negotiations could also be a factor in deciding the timing of the swearing-in.

TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, LJP(R) leader Chirag Paswan, JD(S) leader H D Kumarawamy, Jana Sena's Pawan Kalyan, AGP's Atul Bora and NCP's Praful Patel were among the 21 leaders from 16 parties who attended the meeting besides Modi and BJP's Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and JP Nadda.

Janata Dal (United) leader Sanjay Jha, who was present in the meeting, told PTI that the formalities related to the formation of the government at the Centre under Modi are expected to be over soon.

A resolution passed at the meeting said the NDA government will continue working to lift people's living standards for the country's all-round development while conserving its heritage.

"We are all proud that the NDA fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and won. We all NDA leaders unanimously elect Narendra Modi as our leader," it added.

The resolution also said that people have seen the country being developed in every sector in the last 10 years due to the pro-people policies of the NDA government under Modi.

The NDA has won 293 seats in the Lok Sabha election, comfortably above the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member House, paving the way for Modi to take the oath for a third consecutive term, a first for any ruling alliance since 1962.

Hosting the meeting, the BJP presented a picture of collective partnership with its allies with Naidu, Kumar and Shinde seated to the left of Modi. In terms of their parties' strength, Naidu, Kumar and Shinde are the three biggest NDA constituents [in that order] after the BJP.

The parties of Naidu and Kumar, who together command the support of 28 MPs, have rubbished speculation on their future moves. Naidu has reiterated his support to the BJP, a view echoed by JDU as well.

All leaders congratulated the PM for his leadership and the strides our nation has made under him. His allies lauded Modi for his clear vision of "Viksit Bharat" and asserted that they are partners in this goal.

Modi, meanwhile, said at the meeting that it was a historic mandate for the NDA's third consecutive government which, he noted, was last received in the country over 60 years back.

(With inputs from PTI)