House sitting marred by opposition MPs on chairpersons panel skipping oath
House sitting marred by opposition MPs on chairpersons panel skipping oath
NEW DELHI: The routine custom of newly-elected Lok Sabha members being administered oath by the pro tem Speaker was marred on Monday with opposition members nominated by the President to the panel of chairpersons refusing to take oath when their scheduled turn arrived in order to avoid presiding over the session in the absence of pro tem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab.
PM Modi was the first to take oath followed by members of the panel of chairpersons, which included Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste of BJP, after which the council of ministers took oath before other MPs in alphabetical order.
However, the three opposition MPs in the panel of chairpersons - K Suresh (Congress), Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Trinamool Congress) and T R Balu (DMK) - gave a miss to the oath-taking. They were listed just after PM Modi and ahead of the council of ministers.
With substantial increase in their numbers, most opposition MPs, particularly from Congress and Samajwadi Party, carried copies of the Constitution to the House. While Modi was taking oath, opposition members rose to their feet, holding copies of the Constitution. They did the same when Union home minister Amit Shah took oath, but remained seated this time.
Congress MP from Mavelikara K Suresh was the first to raise objection when proceedings started as he asked the chair to drop his name from panel of chairpersons.
When Modi reached Parliament Monday, he was accompanied by Union ministers from four different regions of the country - Jitendra Singh, L Murugan, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Kiren Rijiju, to which a senior BJP leader said, "It is true spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat."
Meanwhile, Independent MP from Baramulla in Kashmir Abdul Rashid Sheikh could not take oath Monday despite his name being called as he has been lodged in jail since 2019 after being charged by the NIA in a terror-funding case. Popularly known as Engineer Rashid, he had defeated former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah.
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