Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday took oath as Rajya Sabha MP for the first time from Rajasthan, filling the seat that will fall vacant after former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who completed his tenure on April 3. This came a few days before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections that are scheduled to take place in seven phases.
Sonia Gandhi was sworn in as Rajya Sabha MP in the presence of Leader of the House Piyush Goyal and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. Her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, and secretary general P C Mody were also present.
“My best wishes to the Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson, Smt. Sonia Gandhi as she begins her new innings, by taking oath in the Rajya Sabha, today. Her courageous resilience and dignified grace, in the wake of adversity and upheaval, shall continue to guide our Parliamentary strategy,” Kharge wrote on X.
She has completed 25 years of her presence in the Lok Sabha. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was among 14 who took oath as member of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Vice-president and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar administered the oath to them in the new Parliament house building.
While Sonia Gandhi took oath as a member of the Upper House from Rajasthan, Vaishnaw was sworn in as a member of the same house from Odisha. Congress leader Ajay Maken from Karnataka, BJP leader R P N Singh from Uttar Pradesh, and BJP member Samik Bhattacharya from West Bengal were among the 14 who took the Rajya Sabha oath.
YSRCP leaders Gola Babu Rao, Medha Raghunath Reddy, and Yerum Venkat Subba Reddy also took oath as members representing the state of Andhra Pradesh. They all later took a group photograph with the RS Chairman.
