Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah take oath as member of 18th Lok Sabha

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday took oath as members of the 18th Lok Sabha.

While Singh has retained the Lucknow seat in Uttar Pradesh, Shah returned from Gandhinagar in Gujarat and Gadkari from Nagpur in Maharashtra.Before Singh, Shah and Gadkari, two senior members -- Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste (both BJP), who will assist the pro-tem speaker in administering oath over the next two days, took oath as members of the new House. They will help pro-tem speaker B Mahtab run the House when members take oath on Monday and Tuesday.

Congress member K Suresh (Congress), T R Baalu (DMK) and Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), who were called to take oath as they were also appointed as panel of chairpersons like Singh and Kulaste, did not turn up to take oath.

The Congress had taken objection to Mahtab's appointment, contending that the claim of eight-term member Suresh, a Dalit leader, was overlooked. The INDIA bloc has said opposition leaders Suresh, Baalu and Bandopadhyay will not join the panel of chairpersons as a mark of protest.Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar also took oath as member of the new Lok Sabha.