New Delhi, Tuesday 2 June 2009: The two Gandhis from Congress and BJP — Rahul and Varun — as also top leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh took oath as the members of the 15th Lok Sabha today.

Among other prominent members were RLD chief Ajit Singh, former Union Ministers T R Baalu and Maneka Gandhi.

As Rahul took oath in English, his mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi was seen applauding him. His sister Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra watched him from the Speaker’s Gallery.

Rahul shook hands with Leader of Opposition L K Advani and acknowledged greetings from opposition ranks. He also greeted former Uttar Pradesh Chief Ministers Mulayam Singh and Kalyan Singh as also senior CPI(M) member Basudeb Acharia.

When cricketer and Congress MP Mohd Azharuddin took oath, his wife Sangeeta Bijlani watched him proudly from the public gallery. Among the film stars-turned-politicians who took oath were Jayaprada (SP) and DMK’s K Sivakumar (Riteesh).

While Maneka Gandhi took oath in English, her son Varun did so in Hindi.

All nine MPs of the AIADMK took oath in the name of god, while all those belonging to the DMK solemnly affirmed their oath. However, the commonality among all MPs from Tamil Nadu was that they took oath in Tamil.
(Agency)