PT Usha to take oath as Rajya Sabha MP today

NEW DELHI: Renowned former athlete PT Usha will take oath as Rajya Sabha MP on Tuesday.

PT Usha (from Kerala) and legendary music composer Ilaiyaraaja (from Tamil Nadu) could not be present in the Rajya Sabha on Monday for oath-taking due to some reasons.

Born in a small village in Kozhikode district in Kerala, PT Usha is one of India's most iconic sportspersons.

PT Usha has been a role model and inspiration for lakhs of young girls across the country who have dreamt of taking up a career in sports, especially track and field events.

In the 1984 Olympics, she missed winning India's first medal in track and field in a photo-finish as she stood fourth in women's 400M hurdles and lost the Bronze medal by 1/100 second.

Earlier on Monday, cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh, Misa Bharti, daughter of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, and BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla took oath along with nearly 25 other leaders as Rajya Sabha members. Others included A Rao Meena, Vijay Sai Reddy, Kheeru Mahto, Shambhala Saran Patel, Ranjeet Ranjan, Maharashtra Majhi, Aditya Prasad, Praful Patel, Imran Pratapgarhi, Sanjay Raut, Sasmit Patra, Sandeep Kumar Pathak and Vikramjeet Singh Sahani.

Randeep Singh Surjewal, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, R Girl Rajan, S Kalyan Sundaram, KRN Rajesh Kumar, Javed Ali Khan, V Vijendra Prasad were others among those who took the oath today.

Newly elected members from different political parties took oath on the first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament.

Later, obituary references were read in respect of several dignitaries who passed away recently.

The Rajya Sabha also paid homage to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, ex-UAE president Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and former Kenayan president Mwai Kibaki. Obituaries were also paid to former members Kishore Kumar Mohanty, Robert Kharshiing, K K Veerappan and santoor player Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.

Later, Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody also laid on the table a statement (in English and Hindi) showing the Bills passed by the Houses of Parliament during the Two Hundred and Fifty-sixth Session of the Rajya Sabha and assented to by the President.

The House later witnessed a ruckus created by the Opposition party members following disruption in proceedings, leading to the adjournment of the House for the entire day.