On Day 2, family takes over House

The ‘‘feelgood’’ on the second day of oath-taking in the Lok Sabha — with proud sisters, moist-eyed mothers and a b...

The ‘‘feelgood’’ on the second day of oath-taking in the Lok Sabha — with proud sisters, moist-eyed mothers and a brother-in-law or two gazing down from the galleries — was marred somewhat by a walkout by the Akali Dal to protest the swearing-in of Congress MP Sajjan Kumar over his alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots almost 20 years ago.

As soon as Sajjan Kumar’s name was called out, cries of ’’Sikhan de qatil murdabad went up from Akali Dal MPs who walked out of the House. The BJP’s newly elected MP, Navjot Singh Siddhu, followed the Akali MPs out quietly. It was more of a saunter, though, leaving the galleries confused if he was protesting or merely walking out.

Congressmen, however, made up for the noisy walkout by thumping their desks as Sajjan Kumar finished taking oath. However, in keeping with his promise to be ‘‘fair’’ in his rulings, pro-tem Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said the Akali Dal MPs had every right to express their sentiments in the manner they chose.

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The walkout apart, the oath-taking by 137 MPs lasted barely two-and-a-half hours. A ‘‘happy family’’ atmosphere dominated the proceedings, thanks to the presence of several high-profile relatives of high-profile GenNext MPs who took their oath today.

Leading the pack was Rahul Gandhi who, sporting a red-bordered white angavastram, was clearly the star of the day. Most eyes turned to the Speaker’s Gallery where Priyanka Gandhi and husband Robert Vadra sat for more than an hour till Rahul was called upon to take oath.

The Vadras were whispering and giggling throughout amid Priyanka’s gestures to her mother, Sonia Gandhi, who was sitting in the front row of the Treasury benches usually reserved for Cabinet ministers. As soon as Rahul’s name was called out, there was loud cheering from the Congress benches. He read out his oath in Hindi, greeted all the leaders in the front rows including L.K.Advani with a namaste before returning to his seat. Sonia looked pleased but Priyanka was beaming. Priyanka hugged her brother soon after and told waiting mediapersons she was ‘‘happy and proud’’ before leaving but that was all.

Plenty of other MPs had their families cheering too from the Distinguished Visitors’ gallery. There was the Pilot clan — Sachin Pilot’s mother Rama, wife Sara Abdullah, sister Sarika and brother-in-law; Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra had his wife, mother, and brother cheering. The former finance minister himself preferred a relatively obscure seat in the Rajya Sabha gallery from where he could watch his son who took oath in Sindhi (as Rajasthani is not a recognised language, Manvendra later said).

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Jhalawar MP Dushyant Singh cut a somewhat lonely figure. His mother and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje did not turn up.

Earlier in the day, Sachin Pilot was seen chatting with his other brother-in-law who took oath as MP today — Omar Abdullah.

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