By IANS,
New Delhi : Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s key aide Ahmed Patel and Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechury along with seven newly-elected members Friday took oath as members of the Rajya Sabha.
Yechury and Ahmed Patel were among the nine Rajya Sabha members whose term ended Thursday.
Yechury was re-elected to the upper house from West Bengal while Patel was re-elected from Gujarat. Of the seven new members, five are from West Bengal and two from Gujarat.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) old-timer Dilip Pandya and actress Smriti Irani are from Gujarat. The two took oath in Gujarati while Ahmed Patel in Hindi.
The Trinamool Congress’s Debabrata Bandopadhyay, Srinjoy Bose, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy and famous quiz master Derek O’Brien, and the Congress’s Pradeep Bhattacharjee are the new members from West Bengal.
With the swearing-in, the Congress strength in the house has increased to 72. Trinamool Congress’s strength has now gone up to six. Of its three members earlier, one retired Thursday. On the other hand, the CPI(M) is down by two members, while ally RSP loses one member.