Members of 16th Lok Sabha take oath

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his council of ministers and senior leaders, including BJP patriarch L.K. Advani and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were among the members of the newly-elected 16th Lok Sabha who took oath Thursday.

Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, who was sworn-in Wednesday by President Pranab Mukherjee as the pro-tem speaker, administered the oath to Modi, who was attired in a spotless white churidar-kurta and matching jacket.

Advani and Gandhi next took oath next. The three leaders took the oath in Hindi.

They were followed by Arjun Charan Sethi of the Biju Janata Dal, P.A. Sangma of the National People's Party and Biren Singh Engti of the Congress.

After them, most of the members of the council of ministers of the National Democratic Alliance government took their oath as MPs of the new Lok Sabha.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj took her oath in impeccable Sanskrit. The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader was followed by her party colleague and Minister for Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti, who too took her oath in Sanskrit as did union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

Union ministers from Karnataka, including Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda, Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar, and Minister of State for Civil Aviation G.M. Siddeshwara, took their oath in Kannada.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal, who is minister for food processing industries, took oath in Punjabi.

Jual Oram, tribal affairs minister, took oath in Odiya, while Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava took oath in Gujarati.

Sarbananda Sonowal, minister of state for skill development, youth affairs and sports (Independent charge), took oath in Assamese.

Other ministers took oath in Hindi while Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi took oath in English.

The 16th Lok Sabha has the highest number of first time MPs.

Kamal Nath was the only member who had taken oath Wednesday as the house was adjourned on the first day of the new Lok Sabha following death of union minister Gopinath Munde June 3.

The oath taking of the members proceeded state-wise in the alphabetical order with some exceptions for senior members like former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and two former deputy speakers Karia Munda and M. Thambidurai and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Some members were, however, not present to take oath. Notable among them being senior BJP MPs Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Ram Kripal Yadav.- IANS