Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi checks into capital with chef, aides

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi moved home from Ahmedabad to Delhi on Thursday evening, after meeting his mother Hiraben at her Gandhinagar home and bidding "aavjo (goodbye) to the 6.25 crore people of Gujarat" in a farewell speech at the airport.

His bags — packed with his trademark short kurtas and collection of watches — had arrived at the Gujarat Bhawan before him. Their final destination is, of course, the official Prime Minister's residence at 7, Race Course Road after the swearing-in on May 26.

Since the Prime Minister-elect left home when he was young and has lived a bachelor's life for many years, there are not many personal things that needed to be moved out of the chief minister's residence in Ahmedabad to the national capital. Apart from his wardrobe, his luggage included his yoga accessories and other exercise gear including a treadmill. Some of his books are also travelling with him but a close aide who has been in-charge of his household said the tech-savvy Modi wanted all his gadgets - iPad (he checks the news on it every morning), laptop etc - packed carefully.

Modi's cook Badri, who has whipped up light, vegetarian meals for him for over a decade now, also moved to Delhi. Just yesterday in his last address in the Gujarat assembly, Modi had made a light-hearted comment on how "Gujarati will be spoken in the PMO, khaman, dhokla will be served, the khakra market will grow ... a man takes along a lot of things with him."

His personal aides Dinesh Thakur and OP Singh also travelled with him and will move into his new home.

What Modi is leaving behind is the salary he earned as chief minister in the last 13 years. According to a close aide, he intends to give away the money for a fund that would be used to educate children of the staff working at the chief minister's secretariat in Ahmedabad.

Modi's suitcase will also not have any of the mementos that he has received from people over the last few months during his travels across the country. In fact, he hasn't kept any of the mementos given to him during his years as CM. He would have them auctioned every year in different districts with the highest bidder bagging items like "the CM's shawl". The money raised from these annual auctions was used for education of the girl child in the state.