Five languages mark swearing-in

NEW DELHI, December 14: Five languages -- Hindi, English, Punjabi, Sanskrit and Urdu -- figured when 65 members of the Delhi Assembly wer...

NEW DELHI, December 14: Five languages 8212; Hindi, English, Punjabi, Sanskrit and Urdu 8212; figured when 65 members of the Delhi Assembly were sworn in today. The House has a strength of 70 effectively 68 now, with Nangloi Jat and Sushma Swaraj8217;s recently-vacated Hauz Khas to be contested. Conspicuous by their absence were Jagdish Anand, Harvinder Singh Lovely both indisposed and Matin Ahmed reason not stated.

Finance Minister Mahendar Singh Saathi and former Industry Minister Harcharan Singh Balli took the oath in Punjabi, Civil Supplies Minister Yoganand Shastri and BJP8217;s Harsh Vardhan, Naresh Gaur and Nand Kishor Garg did so in Sanskrit, and Shoaib Iqbal of Janata Dal and Haroon Yusuf of the Congress did so in Urdu.

The swearing in provided a study in contrast: 51 upbeat Congress MLAs and 14, somewhat grim, BJP MLAs. Of the 10 rows, Congress MLAs occupied eight.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was the first to be administered the oath of membership by protem speaker Ram Bhaj, the senior BJP leader from Sarojini Nagar. Dikshit was followed by her cabinet colleagues and the other MLAs. Also present on the occasion were Jag Pravesh Chandra, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler. More than 40 members in the new House are first-time MLAs. There are eight women on this team as compared to only two in the previous Assembly.

On the first treasury bench with Dikshit sat Saathi and Education Minister Narender Nath. In the next bench sat Shastri, Labour Minister Krishna Tirath and Transport Minister Parvez Hashmi. The benches next to that had Prem Singh, Tajdar Babar, Deep Chand Bandhu, Ajay Maken and others.

Sharing a bench in the second row was Anjali Rai, Susheela Devi and Darshana Ram Kumar, Meera Bharadwaj and Kiran Chowdhury. The proceedings started at 2 pm and ended at 3.14 pm. There was general bonhomie all through with members of both sides cheering and crossing the floor to greet each other.