Smriti Irani receives longest applause while taking oath as Lok Sabha member

NEW DELHI: The first session of 17th Lok Sabha commenced here Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the leader of the House, taking oath as Member.
Union minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, received the longest applause when she took oath as member of the 17th Lok Sabha on Monday.
As soon as she was called for oath taking, ruling BJP members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, other union ministers and MPs were seen enthusiastically thumping the desk for a long time.
After taking oath in Hindi, Irani greeted pro-tem Speaker Virendra Kumar and also opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi's mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who reciprocated the greetings with a namaste gesture.
Rahul Gandhi was not present in the House at that time.
The Union textile minister defeated Gandhi by a margin of over 55,000 votes in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi constitutency, considered as the pocket borough of Gandhi family for long.
As soon as the House met, the members stood in silence for a few minutes as per the convention after the assembling of the new Lok Sabha.
When Modi's name was called out, Members from the ruling NDA thumped the desk greeting the Prime Minister with slogans such as 'Modi Modi' and "Bharat Mata ki Jai.
The panel of presiding officers - K Suresh, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh and B Mehtab - took oath as Members after the Prime Minister.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh, home minister Amit Shah, transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, and chemical and fertilisers minister D V Sadanand Gowda also took oath.