45 out of 61 new RS MPs take oath; Gowda, other 16 skipped ceremony

Forty-five of the 61 newly-elected Rajya Sabha MPs, including Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge and Jyotiraditya Scindia, took oath on Wednesday as Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu urged them to uphold rules and procedures while discharging their duties as lawmaker and not fall prey to disruptions.

Among the 16 MPs, who did not make it to the oath taking ceremony, include former Prime Minister Deve Gowda, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, TRS' Dr K Keshava Rao and four Trinamool Congress MPs among others. Those members who skipped the ceremony will take the oath during the Monsoon Session.

Outgoing Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambi Durai, senior Congress leaders Digvijay Singh, K C Venugopal and Shaktisinh Gohail, BJP's Bhubhaneswar Kalita, RJD's Prem Chand Gupta, Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi and CPI(M)'s Vikas Ranjan Bhattacharya were among the new MPs who took oath in the ceremony held in Rajya Sabha Chamber.

Except for Gowda, all the three MPs from Karnataka -- Kharge (Congress), Ashok Gasti and Iranna Kadadi (both BJP) -- took oath. All three, who took oath in Kannada, are first timers in Rajya Sabha, though Kharge had been a member of Lok Sabha several times.

This is the first time in Rajya Sabha's history that the oath taking ceremony was held in Rajya Sabha Chamber when Parliament is not in session. Usually, in such circumstances, the oath is taken at the Rajya Sabha Chairman's chamber.

Of the 45 MPs who took oath, 36 are first-timers in Rajya Sabha. The members took oath in ten languages -- Kannada, Telugu, Bodo, Manipuri, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Bengali, Hindi and English.

Some of the MPs were wearing masks and gloves, while sanitisers were also kept available. For signing on the register, separate pens were given to MPs, who were not carrying one with them.

Scindia, who left Congress to join the BJP along with his supporters in Madhya Pradesh leading to the fall of Congress government there, greeted his former leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kharge and Digvijay Singh before his oath-taking. Scindia and Singh were at loggerheads in Madhya Pradesh.

While taking oath, BJP MP from Maharashtra Udayanraje Bhosale chanted "Jai Hind, Hau Maharashtra, Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji".

Naidu said the plan to administer oath earlier had to be put on hold on account of Covid-19 induced travel restrictions and quite a few newly elected have expressed concerns over travelling long distances for oath taking even after they were relaxed.

With Parliamentary Committees resuming meetings this month, Naidu said, oath taking has been accordingly planned to enable participation of new MPs in the panel meetings right away and in the Monsoon Session to follow. The new MPs will be nominated on various committees in a day or two, he said.

He said the MPs should hold themselves to account with regard to their conduct, both within and outside the House, so as to enhance the standing of the institution in the eyes of the people.

The MPs should "not fall prey to the temptation of disrupting the proceedings of the House for short term gains", he said emphasising that "ensuring rule of law is the spirit of our law of the land. "It shall begin with your compliance with the rules and procedures of this House," Naidu said.

Suggesting to the new MPs to question themselves if they had acted to enhance the dignity of the institution or to the contrary at the end of each day during session and if their conduct was ethical during the inter-session period, he said, "answers to these simple questions would guide you on the right path."