Jyotiraditya Scindia sworn in as Rajya Sabha MP, greets Digvijaya Singh before taking oath

Jyotiraditya Scindia sworn in as Rajya Sabha MP.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia was on Wednesday administered oath as a member of the Rajya Sabha by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. Scindia was elected to the Upper House from Madhya Pradesh last month.

Scindia was among 45 newly-elected members of the House who took oath on Wednesday. They all took oath not to fall prey to disruptions and to uphold rules and procedures while discharging their duties as lawmakers.

Before oath, Scindia met senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Digvijaya Singh. He greeted the two leaders and then proceeded towards the dais for oath.

“I took oath as a member of the Rajya Sabha. I thank the state (Madhya Pradesh) BJP workers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, national president JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP’s leadership for giving me this opportunity,” he tweeted in Hindi.

This is Scindia’s first stint in the Rajya Sabha. He served as a member of the Lok Sabha since 2002 from Guna in Madhya Pradesh. He lost the Guna seat to BJP’s Krishna Pal Singh Yadav in the Lok Sabha elections last year.

2/2 प्रदेश के शीर्ष नेतृत्व व सभी विधायक साथियों का आभार, जिन्होंने मुझे राज्यसभा में पार्टी का प्रतिनिधित्व करने का मौका दिया। @ChouhanShivraj pic.twitter.com/Ay7Wy8BLyn

— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) July 22, 2020

Scindia quit the Congress in March and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Twenty two Congress MLAs belonging to his camp also resigned from the Kamal Nath government helping the BJP return to power under Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s leadership.

Scindia was miffed with the Congress leadership after he was denied a Rajya Sabha berth. Scindia wanted to be the first preference candidate over Digvijaya Singh, but the Congress leadership didn’t agree to his demand.

The new members sworn in today include 36 first timers including Scindia. The oath taking ceremony took place at the Rajya Sabha chamber with physical distancing norms in place.

The Chairman later said the new MPs will be nominated in committees soon.

Digvijaya Singh and NCP chief Sharad Pawar were also sworn in as Rajya Sabha MPs.

“I was sworn in as a Member of the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra today. I will do my utmost to uphold the dignity of this august house and discharge my duties as representative of the people,” Pawar tweeted.