Congress leader Sonia Gandhi takes oath as member of Rajya Sabha

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday took oath as the member of Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan's Jaipur.

The 77-year-old had opted out of contesting yet another election to retain her Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat in UP which she represented five times in a row since 2004.

The Congress leaders attributed her seeking a Rajya Sabha seat to her "poor health" but, it also coincides with the Congress facing electoral uncertainty in Rae Bareli this time, a seat that now the BJP is trying eyeing after it wrested the neighbouring Amethi from Rahul Gandhi in the last poll. Rae Bareli is the only Lok Sabha seat from UP that the Congress won in the last Lok Sabha election.


This marks the first time in half a century a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family seeking a Rajya Sabha route to Parliament, the last being Indira Gandhi briefly in 1964 before she opted for the Lok Sabha contests.

Vaishnaw, others take oath too
Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was among the 14 others who took oath as members of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Vice-president and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar administered the oath to them in the new Parliament house building.

While Sonia Gandhi took oath as a member of the Upper House from Rajasthan, Vaishnaw was sworn in as a member of the same house from Odisha.

Congress leader Ajay Maken from Karnataka, BJP leader R P N Singh from Uttar Pradesh, and BJP member Samik Bhattacharya from West Bengal were among the 14 who took the Rajya Sabha oath.

YSRCP leaders Gola Babu Rao, Medha Raghunath Reddy, and Yerum Venkat Subba Reddy also took oath as members representing the state of Andhra Pradesh.

They all later took a group photograph with the RS Chairman.

Sonia Gandhi has become a Rajya Sabha member for the first time. She took oath in the presence of Leader of the House Piyush Goyal and Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

Her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was also present during her oath-taking.

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh and secretary general P C Mody were also present

(With inputs from PTI)