Seventeen members, including new and re-elected ones, took oath in Rajya Sabha, which reassembled after a month-long break, on Thursday.
Former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar took oath as a nominated member in presence of Chairman Hamid Ansari. Aiyar, who took oath in Tamil, received applause from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members.
Defence Minister A K Antony (Kerala), Sports Minister M S Gill (Punjab), along with Silvius Condpan (Congress Member of Parliament from Assam), Ashwani Kumar (Congress MP from Punjab), and Naresh Gujral (Shiromani Akali Dal member from Punjab), were among the re-elected members who took oath.
New members who took oath included Naznin Faruque (Assam), Bimla Kashyap Sood (Himachal Pradesh), K N Balagopal and T N Seema (both Kerala), Avinash Rai Khanna and Sukhdev Singh (both Punjab), Jharna Das Baidya (Tripura), and Naresh Chandra Agarwal (UP).
Nominated members who took oath included Javed Akhtar, Bhalchandra Mungekar and Ram Dayal Munda.
B Jayashree (new nominated MP) and Khekiho Zhimomi (Nagaland People's Front MP who has been re-elected) were not present in the House to take oath.
