PM Modi, senior Ministers take oath as members of 18th Lok Sabha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the oath in Hindi amid slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ raised by members of the treasury benches

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of his Council of Ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, took the oath as members of the 18th Lok Sabha as its first session began on June 24.

Mr. Modi returned to power for his third consecutive term in office earlier this month. He and his Council of Ministers were sworn in on June 9. This is also his third term as a member of the Lok Sabha, he retained his Varanasi seat, which he has been winning since 2014. As the leader of the House, he was the first one to be sworn in.

Mr. Modi took the oath in Hindi amid slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” raised by members of the treasury benches.

While he was taking the oath, opposition members rose to their feet, holding copies of the Constitution. When Shah came to take the oath, they again held up the copies of the Constitution but remained seated.

Among the Council of Ministers, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are members of the Rajya Sabha, while Ministers of State George Kurian and Ravneet Singh are not members of either House.

Besides Rajnath Singh and Shah, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari also took the oath as members of the 18th Lok Sabha.

While Rajnath Singh was re-elected from the Lucknow seat in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Shah returned from Gandhinagar in Gujarat and Mr. Gadkari from Nagpur in Maharashtra. All three took the oath in Hindi. Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Jitan Ram Manjhi and Minister for Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh also took the oath as members of the new Lok Sabha. Manjhi and Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh belong to NDA partners Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and JD-U respectively.

Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy took the oath in Kannada, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Odia, Ports and Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Assamese, Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu and Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy in Telugu and Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi in Kannada. Union Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy Shripad Y. Naik took the oath in Sanskrit.

Controversy regarding Pro-tem Speaker’s appointment

Before them, senior members Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste (both from the BJP), who will assist the pro-tem speaker in administering the oath to the newly elected MPs, were sworn in as members of the new House. They will help Pro-tem speaker B. Mahtab run the House when the members take the oath on June 24 and June 25.

Opposition members K. Suresh (Congress), T.R. Baalu (DMK) and Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), who were called to take oath as they were also appointed as panel of chairpersons like Mr. Singh and Mr. Kulaste, did not turn up.

The Congress has taken objection to Mr. Mahtab’s appointment, contending that the claim of eight-term member Mr. Suresh, a Dalit leader, was overlooked. The INDIA bloc has said its leaders would not join the panel of chairpersons as a mark of protest.