17th Lok Sabha session begins

New Delhi: The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha commenced Monday with jubilant BJP members raising ‘Jai Shri Ram and Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans as several members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi took oath.

As the Leader of the House, Mr Modi was the first to take oath as member of the lower house defence minister Rajnath Singh, home minister and BJP president Amit Shah, transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari were among the promiment members who took oath.

Addressing the media outside parliament before the commencement of Parliament session, Mr Modi reached out to the Opposition saying they need not “bother about their numbers” as their every word is “valuable” to the government.

He urged all MPs to be impartial in the House and address issues related to the larger interest of the nation.

“When we come to Parliament, we should forget paksh (treasury) and vipaksh (opposition). We should think about issues with a nishpaksh (impartial) spirit and work in the larger interest of the nation,” he said, Besides the Union ministers who were elected to the Lok Sabha, members from 23 states and union territories, including Andra Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar took oath.  The remaining members will take oath on Tuesday.

The Lok Sabha at present has 542 elected members. Elections to Vellore seat in Tamil Nadu was cancelled as the EC felt excessive monery power was being used to lure voters in that constituency. A fresh date is yet to be announced. Amid thumping of desk by Congress members, Rahul Gandhi took oath in English.