TNI Bureau: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw of BJP and two BJD leaders Debasish Samantray and Subhasish Khuntia took oath as members of Rajya Sabha today.

Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar administered them the oath of office at the new Parliament building here.

Apart from them, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was among 14 political leaders who took oath as members of the Upper House today.

This is the second consecutive time that Vaishnaw has been elected to the Rajya Sabha while it is the first term for Samantray, the former Barabati-Cuttack MLA, and Khuntia, the former vice president of Biju Yuba Janata Dal.

All three of them were elected uncontested.

It is to be noted here that three Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha had fallen vacant following the completion of the terms of Vaishnaw, and BJD’s Prashanta Nanda and Amar Patnaik. Ashwini Vaishnaw was renominated with BJD’s support.