Festive atmosphere in Lok Sabha as members take oath

Festive atmosphere and bonhomie prevailed in Lok Sabha today with members donning traditional dress and head gears and many taking oath in their mother tongue.

Three Delhi MPs -- Maheish Giri, Meenakshi Lekhi and Parvesh Saheb Singh Verma -- took oath in Sanskrit, others did so in Maithili, Konkani, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Sanskrit and English.

BJP member from Bihar, Kirti Azad came in traditional Maithili dress and head gear, while two Gujarat MPs -- Devusinh Jesingbhai Chauhan and Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai Kundariya wore traditional Gujarati garments.

Azad also warmly hugged party colleague Nityanand Rai after he took oath.

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, sitting in the front row, enthusiastically thumped his desk when his brother Ram Chandra Paswan and son Chirag Paswan took oath. Chirag wore white Kurta over blue denims.

Former BJP member and Union Home Secretary R K Singh, former Union minister M Veerappa Moily and Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), who occupied the front row, were seen greeting most of the new members.

Actors Shatrughan Sinha and Paresh Rawal took oath in Hindi.

Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari (BJP) took oath extempore, inviting applause from members.

LJP member Veena Devi, who took oath in Hindi, seemed to have forgotten to carry her specs and borrowed a pair from staff of Lok Sabha to read her oath.