After BJP's thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with senior leaders on Friday on the formation of the new cabinet. BJP has the first back-to-back majority in the Lok Sabha for a single party since 1984.
One of the main issues that the new administration will have to tackle is the country's slow economic growth as the US-China trade war shows no signs of stopping and the global oil prices are only going higher.
"While the macroeconomic picture looks stable and promising, many important segments need support from the government," BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav wrote in a column for Indian Express.
He added, "India cannot completely remain insulated from the ongoing trade war between the US and China or the geo-strategic conflict between the US and Iran."
An immediate decision will be whether to keep senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley as Finance Minister despite his poor health or assign Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal to the job of leading Asia's third-largest economy.
Goyal, 54, had stepped into the role twice in the Modi government when Jaitley was ill. Goyal presented an interim budget before the election and a full budget is due after the new government takes office.
SLOWING ECONOMIC GROWTH
Despite the dominance of the BJP and its allies in the lower house of parliament, analysts say it does not yet have the numbers in the upper house for tougher reforms such as relaxed labour and land laws sought by the business community.
"But, in the meantime, a chunky capex plan funded by more privatisation and used to build more infrastructure can put growth back on the rails at a time when global growth and trade are slowing," the Financial Express daily said in an editorial.
Economic growth, which fell to an annual 6.6% during October-December, is at its lowest in five quarters, and other economic indicators signal no relief.
Modi will also need to resolve a liquidity crisis that is slowly gripping India's shadow banks.
BJP President Amit Shah, who is credited with crafting the political strategy that helped the party retain its base in northern and western India but also advanced in the east, is tipped to be the home minister, a powerful post with control of security and intelligence services.
For the main opposition Congress party, however, the next few days are likely to be tumultuous after yet another poor showing. Party chief Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, lost his seat in a family borough in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
"It is astonishing that Rahul Gandhi has not yet resigned as Congress president," historian Ramachandra Guha said on Twitter.
"Both self-respect, as well as political pragmatism, demand that the Congress elect a new leader. But perhaps the Congress has neither," he added.
