Manmohan takes oath as RS MP

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today took oath as Rajya Sabha member for the sixth term. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu administered the oath in his chamber to Dr Singh.

Leader of the House Thawar Chand Gehlot, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Deputy Leader of the Congress in RS Anand Sharma, Congress president and Lok Sabha MP Sonia Gandhi, former party president Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Deputy CM Sachin Pilot and RS MP Ahmed Patel were present.

Dr Singh was elected unopposed to the House from Rajasthan in a byelection on August 19 following the demise of sitting member Madan Lal Saini. Earlier, Dr Singh was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1991, 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2013. He was Leader of the Opposition in the House between 1998 and 2004, and Leader of the House as the Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014.

Dr Singh, 87, is the fourth oldest among the sitting members of the House after Ram Jethmalani, 96, Motilal Vora, 91, and CP Thakur, 88. Another member, Mahendra Prasad, is serving seventh term, Jethmalani his sixth term and Vora fourth term in the Rajya Sabha.