Rajasthan Assembly session begins, 10 MLAs take oath in Sanskrit

The newly elected MLAs of Rajasthan took oath as the first session of the 15th state assembly began on Tuesday.

After the oath ceremony, the assembly was adjourned till Wednesday.

Protem speaker Gulab Chand Kataria administered the oath of office to 197 of the 199 MLAs elected in the December 7 assembly polls. Six-time Congress legislator Hemaram Choudhary was not present in the ceremony and Kataria was administered oath as a member by Governor Kalyan Singh on Monday.

The ceremony started with chief minister Ashok Gehlot taking oath, followed by deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, council of ministers and other legislators.

Nine BJP MLAs -- Ashok Lahoty, Chhagan Singh, Jogeshwar Garg, Dharamnarayan Joshi, Pabba Ram, Madan Dilawar, Vittahal Shankar Awasthi, Vasudev Devnani, and Sandeep Sharma --- and Congress’ Rajkumar Sharma took oath in Sanskrit. Two Congress MLAs -- Zahida and Prashant Bairwa -- took oath in English.

Some MLAs sought to take oath in Rajasthani but the protem speaker denied the request, saying that the language is not included in the eighth schedule of the Constitution. The legislators then took oath in Hindi.

A few BJP legislators supported CPI MLA Girdhari Lal’s request to take oath in Rajasthani language. Declining the request, Kataria said, “I respect your sentiments but what is the need to debate? If you want to debate follow the House rules.”

The BJP MLA from Nokha, Bihari Lal Bishnoi, reached the assembly wearing a white mask, on which his demand for taking oath in Rajasthani was written. He had also submitted an application in the assembly seeking permission to take oath in the language.

BJP MLA from Nokha, Biharilal Bishnoi arrived wearing a mask which had his demand of taking oath in Rajasthani written on it. ( HT Photo )

Two legislators of the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) took oath in the name of nature. The Rashtriya Lok Tantrik Party (RLTP) MLA could not read the oath, so the protem speaker asked him to repeat as he read it out.

Baljeet Yadav, an Independent MLA from Behror arrived in a tractor at state assembly. ( HT Photo )

Independent legislator from Mahua, Om Prakash Hudla, took the oath barefoot. First-time MLA Baljeet Yadav, elected as an independent from Behror, reached the assembly driving a tractor. He said, “I am a son of a farmer and my election symbol was also tractor.”

Visitors present in the viewers’ gallery clapped for Rashtriya Lok Tantrik Party (RLTP) convener Hanuman Beniwal when his name was announced for the oath. BJP deputy leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore raised objection, saying it is against parliamentary tradition.

When Rajendra Rathore was called for oath, parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal stood up and said in a lighter vein, “He (Rathore) is taking oath for the seventh time and should have remembered the lines (oath) by now.” After taking oath, Rathore forgot to sign the register and went straight towards his seat. He was reminded by others to sign.

Also on Tuesday, Congress MLA CP Joshi filed his nomination for the speaker post; election will be held on Wednesday. Present during the nomination were Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot, Rajendra Rathore and Gulab Chand Kataria.