PM Modi, Senior Ministers Take Oath As Members Of 18th Lok Sabha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of his Council of Ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, took the oath as Members of Parliament on Monday, the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha's first session. Modi returned to power for his third consecutive term earlier this month.

The prime minister and his Council of Ministers were sworn in on June 9. This is his third term as a member of the Lok Sabha. Modi retained the Varanasi seat, which he has been winning since 2014. As the leader of the House, he was the first one to take the oath. Modi took the oath in Hindi amid slogans of "Jai Shri Ram" raised by members of the treasury benches.

Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari also took the oath as members of the 18th Lok Sabha. While Singh has retained the Lucknow seat in Uttar Pradesh, Shah returned from Gandhinagar in Gujarat and Gadkari from Nagpur in Maharashtra. All three took the oath in Hindi.

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 Monday and Tuesday. Congress member 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 Singh and Kulaste, did not turn up to take oath. The Congress had taken objection to Mahtab's appointment, contending that the claim of eight-term member Suresh, a Dalit leader, was overlooked.

The INDIA bloc has said opposition leaders Suresh, Baalu and Bandopadhyay would not join the panel of chairpersons as a mark of protest. 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.

Kumaraswamy is from the JD-S and Naidu is from the Telugu Desam Party. Union Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy Shripad Y Naik took the oath in Sanskrit. Earlier in the day, B Mahtab took the oath as a member of the new House as well as that of pro-tem speaker at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Before the proceedings started, all members stood in silence for a few seconds to mark the solemn occasion of the first sitting of the new House.