New Delhi, Oct. 21 :
For the second day running, debutante Sonia Gandhi continued to be the cynosure of all eyes in the Lok Sabha.
Unlike yesterday, when she was nervous, Sonia today appeared much more confident and relaxed. But a large number of Congress MPs, particularly the senior lot, remained extremely protective and kept a strict vigil over every movement of their leader.
The much-awaited ?encounter? between the two bahus of the Nehru-Gandhi family turned out to be a damp squib when Maneka Gandhi went past Sonia without acknowledging her presence and the AICC chief looked askance.
Draped in a brown cotton sari, Sonia took oath in chaste Hindi without fumbling while pronouncing Sanskrit words like ?nirvahan? and ?prabhusatta?. But she created a flutter when she forgot to sign on the register.
Congressmen vied with each other to sit close to the new leader of the Opposition. Instead of three leaders sharing the front bench adjacent to her seat, six of them made it there, jostling for space.
The ailing A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury was the first to occupy the seat after which Kamal Nath, Rajesh Pilot, N. Janardhan Reddy, K. Karunakaran and Santosh Mohan Deb also squeezed in.
Minutes before 11 am, Sonia entered the Lok Sabha and suddenly everyone fell silent. She went up to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee straightway and greeted him.
Murli Manohar Joshi walked round the Well of the House, greeting everyone, including Sonia, who reciprocated the gesture without getting up. However, when Vajpayee came over to the Opposition benches, Sonia stood up to greet him again.
The Congress president barely smiled during her hour-long stay. All through this, Kamal Nath, Girija Vyas and Pawan Ghatowar acted as her guides, explaining the seating arrangement of the Lok Sabha and other details.
In the visitors? gallery, more than a dozen pairs of eyes watched her. Children Priyanka and Rahul, son-in-law Robert Vadra, Sonia?s personal secretary V. George, AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad and other leaders were there to witness the ceremony.
Women parliamentarians paid full attention to Sonia. Some BJP members were heard admiring her sartorial elegance while Gita Mukherjee and Phoolan Devi went up to her to exchange pleasantries. Samajwadi member Saleem Sherwani rushed to greet Sonia after taking oath, preferring her to party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Sonia told the Congress Parliamentary Party that her first day in Parliament was ?extremely good?. She said she would be punctual and spend as much time as possible in the House.