l House adjourned to pay homage to Munde l Pro-tem Speaker Kamal Nath postpones oath by new members to Thursday l Modi walks to Sonia, greets her
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
NEW DELHI: The new Lok Sabha on Wednesday began its first session burying the bad blood and acrimony of elections with both sides exchanging greetings. The House was, however, adjourned for the day to pay homage to union minister Gopinath Munde killed in a tragic road accident on Tuesday.
Pro-tem Speaker Kamal Nath, who was sworn-in earlier by President Pranab Mukherjee, conducted the proceedings on a sombre note and postponed the day’s agenda of oath by the new members to Thursday.
Arriving 10 minutes ahead of the session amid thumping of desks, Modi put aside the poll days’ acrimony and walked to Congress President Sonia Gandhi entering the House from other side of the aisle. Both greeted each other with folded hands and exchanged pleasantries. Parliamentary affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and patriarch Lal Krishna Advani, who has been given the seat next to the PM, accompanied Modi.
The Prime Minister also greeted new leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge and former union minister Veerappa Moily seated in the front row. As he moved around, he was greeted by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav as also by the Akali and Trinamul Congress leaders.
In a statement to the media before entering the Parliament House, he said: “The people of India have voted in unprecedented numbers, blessed their representatives and elected the 16th Lok Sabha. Today is its first day. I assure the people of this country that in this temple of democracy, every effort will be made to meet the hopes and aspirations of the common man of India. My best wishes to fellow Indians.”
After the House was adjourned, Sonia Gandhi walked up to the leaders of other parties to greet them. She is also hosting a dinner for Congress MPs on Thursday.
Rahul Gandhi arrived two minutes after the proceedings began and was seated on the back benches in the ninth row, along with former union minister Shashi Tharoor.
Though not a minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi occupied the front bench, along with the senior ministers — Venkaiah Naidu, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh. Former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari was seated in the second row.
