52 new members take oath in Upper House
The oath-taking ceremony of 52 newly-elected members in the Rajya Sabha on Monday reflected the changed power equation in the Upper House following the biennial elections. A maximum of 12 members took oath from Uttar Pradesh, followed by six from Maharashtra, five each from Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, four from
Tamil Nadu, three each from Karnataka, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, two each from Jharkhand and Punjab, and one each from Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. Incidentally, the BSP is now the third largest party in the 245-member Upper House, relegating the CPI(M) to the fourth position as its tally has come down to 15 from 16.
Information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni and commerce and industries minister Anand Sharma, along with BJP leaders M. Venkaiah Naidu, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra and noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani have been re-elected. Veteran Congress leaders like V. Hanumantha Rao, Mohsina Kidwai, N. Janaradhana Reddy and Satish Sharma have also been re-elected. Environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh, however, was not present in the house to take oath. As the Upper House assembled for the Monsoon Session, fresh faces from parties like the DMK, BSP and BJD were seen sitting in the front row, relegating some of sitting members to the backseat. Tiruchi Siva of DMK, whose strength rose from four to seven, as also Pyarimohan Mohapatara of BJD, are now occupying the front row. BJD’s numbers have risen from four to six after the elections. Siva replaces AIADMK’s V. Maitreyan who has now been seated in the second row after the party’s strength came down to five from seven.
Against the BSP’s numbers which have risen to 18 from 13, the tally of its arch rival in Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party has plunged from 11 to five. Ambed Rajan of the BSP, who hails from Magapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, took oath as RS member from UP.
Mr Rajan, the party’ national treasurer and a close confidant of UP CM Mayawati, was elected unopposed from the state on the seat vacated by her after she assumed chief ministership a few months ago.
Along with Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley and BJP’s S.S. Ahluwalia and M. Venkaiah Naidu, the front row is being occupied by Satish Chandra Mishra (BSP), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Manohar Joshi (Shiv Sena) and Tariq Anwar (NCP).
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