Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on April 4, 2024, took oath as Rajya Sabha member. This is her first stint in the upper house. She was elected from Rajasthan, on a seat that fell vacant after 91-year-old former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh completed his tenure on April 3rd.
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Thirteen other members were sworn in along with Ms. Gandhi, including the one-time Gandhi loyalist and former union minister R.P.N. Singh, who is now with the BJP. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Syed Naseer Hussain from Karnataka, BJP member Samik Bhattacharya from West Bengal, YSRCP leaders Gola Babu Rao, Medha Raghunath Reddy, and Yerum Venkat Subba Reddy also took oath. The oath was administered by Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar in the new Parliament.
Ms. Gandhi was accompanied by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and her son-in-law Robert Vadra.
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Kharge wishes Sonia
Wishing her well for her new innings, Mr. Kharge in a post on X wrote, “Her courageous resilience and dignified grace, in the wake of adversity and upheaval, shall continue to guide our Parliamentary strategy.”
“She has completed 25 years serving the Lok Sabha, and now my fellow members and I await her presence in the Upper House. I wish her a fruitful tenure ahead,” he added.
Sonia Gandhi’s shift from lower house to upper house
Ms. Gandhi opted out of the electoral race choosing instead to come to Parliament via Rajya Sabha. Out of the 17-seats conceded by Samajwadi Party to Congress, the party has so far only announced 15 candidates. The party has not yet taken a call on Rae Bareli and Amethi which in the past were held by Ms. Gandhi and her son Mr. Rahul Gandhi.
Ms Gandhi contested the first Lok Sabha election in 1999 from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and Bellary in Karnataka. She gave up Bellary, to retain Amethi, which her husband Rajiv Gandhi represented in four consecutive elections. In 2004 elections, she shifted to Gandhi family’s pocket borough - Rae Bareli, vacating Amethi in favour of her son Rahul Gandhi.
Congress has won Rae Bareli 17 times since the first general elections. The seat was first represented by Feroze Gandhi and later on three occasions by Indira Gandhi. In 1977, Janata Party leader Raj Narain defeated Indira Gandhi here and the BJP won the seat in the 1996 and 1998 elections.