Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, this time, looked different. Of course, there were several new faces in the assembly, but what caught more eyes was the portrait of Dr. BR Ambedkar in place of Jawaharlal Nehru's!
The wall behind the speaker's chair would usually be decked up with large portraits of Mahatama Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. While Bapu's poster remained on the wall, Nehru's picture was replaced by Baba Ambedkar's.
Taken by surprise, Congress MLAs raised objections and demanded to restore Nehru's portrait. They have also warned the ruling party that if Nehru's picture does not get back on the wall, they will themselves do it.
As many as 207 MLAs took the oath in the special session of the 16th Vidhan Sabha on Monday. The ceremony started with Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, followed by Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar, and deputy CMs Jagdish Dewda and Rajendra Shukla.
Several first-time legislators, like Sidhi's BJP MLA Riti Pathak, Bhopal's Congress' Atif Aqueel, Nitendra Rathore, and Narsinghpur's BJP MLA Prahlad Patel, were sworn in. Similarly, veterans like former CM and MLA from Budhni Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP National Party general secretary, and Indore-1MLA Kailash Vijayvargiya took oaths in the assembly.
The remaining 23 MLAs will take oaths on Tuesday.
