INDIA bloc leaders protest in Parl with Constitution copies in hands

In a show of strength, the Opposition INDIA bloc members on Monday waved copies of the Constitution in Parliament as Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath as a member of the 18th Lok Sabha.

Home Minister Amit Shah was also greeted in a similar manner.

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took oath as Lok Sabha member amid chants of NEET-NET by the opposition members even as a controversy is raging on the entrance examinations that has put the government in the dock.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool leader Kalyan Banerjee, and Samajwadi Party leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Awadhesh Prasad were seated in the first row in the opposition benches.

In a prestige battle, Prasad defeated the two-time sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MP Lallu Singh from Faizabad, the constituency that comprises Ayodhya, by a margin of 54,567 votes.

Congress member Kodikunnil Suresh, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's TR Baalu and Trinamool Congress' member Sudip Bandyopadhyay walked out of the House when the oath-taking began as a mark of protest over the appointment of Mahtab as pro-tem Speaker.

The three Opposition members were named on the panel of chairpersons to assist the pro-tem Speaker.

The panel of chairpersons was administered oath immediately after Prime Minister Modi who is the leader of the 18th Lok Sabha.

With Suresh, Baalu and Bandyopadhyay choosing to remain absent, the other two members named on the panel -- BJP Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste were administered oath after the Prime Minister.

The Opposition members were heard raising the slogan "violation of Constitution" when the panel was sworn in.

Hugs and greetings marked the beginning of the 18th Lok Sabha as members walked into the cavernous chamber of the lower house, with some touching the threshold reverentially as they embarked on the journey as public representatives.

First term lawmaker Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of BJP stalwart late Sushma Swaraj, was among the early entrants to the Lok Sabha chamber. She mingled with the fellow members, exchanging greetings and clicking photographs.

Members of the Telugu Desam Party, a key ally of the BJP, sported yellow scarves while the Samajwadi Party members walked in the Lok Sabha chamber wearing red caps and pale-red coloured 'gamchas'. They waved copies of the Hindi version of the Constitution.

TDP's K Ram Mohan Naidu, the youngest member of the Union cabinet, hugged fellow minister Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas and warmly greeted Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray.

Actor-politician Ravi Kishan of the BJP came to the House dressed in a dhoti-kurta, while Anita Chouhan, the first-term BJP member from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, donned traditional attire.

BJP member from Meerut, Arun Govil, who played the role of Lord Ram in television serial Ramayan, was seen going around and greeting fellow members as he began his political innings.

Another actor-politician Kangana Ranaut, who won for the first time on a BJP ticket from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, entered the Lok Sabha chamber wearing a white saree.

Both Ranaut and Govil were seen seated in the eighth and the ninth rows respectively.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was seated in the third row.