Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson leader Sonia Gandhi on Thursday took oath as Rajya Sabha MP for the first time from Rajasthan, filling the seat that will fall vacant after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh completed his tenure on April 3.
This came a few days before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections that are scheduled to take place in seven phases.
The 77-year-old had opted out of contesting yet another election to retain her Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat in UP which she represented five times in a row since 2004.
The Congress leaders attributed her seeking a Rajya Sabha seat to her “poor health” but, it also coincides with the Congress facing electoral uncertainty in Rae Bareli this time, a seat that now the BJP is trying eyeing after it wrested the neighbouring Amethi from Rahul Gandhi in the last poll. Rae Bareli is the only Lok Sabha seat from UP that the Congress won in the last Lok Sabha election.
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