Delhi MLAs take oath in 5 different languages

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Assembly, which stands out in the country for its political homogeneity with all but three MLAs belonging to the same party, today witnessed remarkable linguistic diversity as the legislators took oath in as many as five different languages, including Maithili and Sanskrit.

While majority of MLAs stuck to Hindi, three AAP MLAs -- Sanjeev Jha (Burari), Rituraj Jha (Kirari) and Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri) -- took oath in Maithili.

"I come from Mithilanchal, so I thought it was more apt for me to take oath in Maithili," said Ritura Jha, dressed in traditional Maithili attire.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and the rest of his cabinet took oath in Hindi.

Two AAP MLAs -- Amantullah Khan from Okhla and Mohammad Ishraque from Seelampur -- were administered oath in Urdu.

AAP's three Sikh MLAs -- Jarnail Singh (Rajouri Garden), Jarnail Singh (Tilak Nagar) and Avtar Singh Kalkaji (Kalkaji) -- took oath in Punjabi.

Party's Karawal Nagar MLA Kapil Mishra took oath in Sanskrit while former minister and Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti, Laxmi Nagar MLA Nitin Tyagi and Bijwasan MLA Col Devendra Sehrawat took oath in English.

All three BJP legislators including Rohini MLA Vijender Gupta took oath in Hindi.