New Delhi: That Rahul Gandhi takes his decision to quit as Congress president seriously was evident on Monday when he reached Parliament House to take the oath as a Lok Sabha member only in the second half, with fellow MPs from Kerala. This was in sharp contrast with his mother Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, who was present in the House since the morning.

Mr Gandhi, who won from Kerala’s Wayanad seat but lost from his family’s pocket borough of Amethi, was missing in action for the past week or more, after he told the Congress Working Committee of his decision of not continuing as the party president.

On the first day of the Parliament session on Monday, while Sonia Gandhi was present in the House in the morning as well as the afternoon, Mr Gandhi only came at around 4 pm, when his turn to take the oath was due along with other MPs from Kerala. Except for the Prime Minister and the council of ministers, all other MPs take the oath in alphabetical order of the states they belong to.

In the morning session, RPI leader Ramdas Athawale was heard asking about Rahul Gandhi’s whereabouts.

In the afternoon, as soon as the Wayanad MP entered the House, his mother Sonia asked him to sit next to her on the Opposition front bench. The two were seen talking animatedly with each other for some time.

When his name was called out after four MPs from Kerala, the Congress president took the oath in English. Minutes before taking the oath, he tweeted that his fourth consecutive term as a member of the Lok Sabha had begun on Monday. “Representing Wayanad, Kerala, I begin my new innings in Parliament by taking my oath this afternoon, affirming that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India”, he tweeted.