Pratibha Patil, Meira attend Kovind's swearing in, Naidu-KCR exchange pleasantries

The Who's Who of Indian politics including former President Pratibha Patil, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and former Chief Ministers and incumbent Governors attended the grand ceremony of oath taking by new President Ram Nath Kovind. The function was graced among others by former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and incumbent Governors Najma Heptulla, Vidyasagar Rao, S C Jamir, O P Kohli and Acharya Dev Vrat. Among the Chief Ministers, Nitish Kumar, whose JD(U) party broke the Opposition alliance and had voted for Mr Kovind was among the early ones to come.

So did West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, who however chose to sit among Trinamool Congress MPs at the back bench. The Trinamool Congress floor leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who was jailed earlier this year in connection with chit fund scam, was also present. The sidelights include arch rivals TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and TRS leader and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao also exchanged pleasantries.

Among the sitting MPs and Union Ministers, the ailing Rajnath Singh, however, could not attend. Mr V Narayanasamy of Puducherry, was the only Congress Chief Minister to attend. Among others, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and BJP chief Amit Shah were also present on the occasion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's entry into the Central Hall was received by thumping of desks by BJP members. Top military officials and members of diplomatic corps and judges of the Supreme Court also attended the ceremony.