Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, set to be Leader of Opposition, shook hands today in parliament as they together welcomed the newly re-elected Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla, marking a fresh chapter in the 18th Lok Sabha.
Rahul Gandhi is the third member of the Gandhi family to take the post of the Leader of the Opposition. Mr Gandhi follows in the footsteps of his mother, Sonia Gandhi, who served from 1999 to 2004, and his father, Rajiv Gandhi, who was the Leader of the Opposition from 1989 to 1990.Pro-tem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab declared the election results after the Opposition, which had put forward Congress MP K Suresh as its candidate, chose not to push for a vote on the motion.
Pro-tem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab declared the election results after the Opposition, which had put forward Congress MP K Suresh as its candidate, chose not to push for a vote on the motion.
Following the announcement, Prime Minister Modi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju approached Mr Birla’s seat in the front row of the treasury benches to escort him to the Speaker’s chair. Accompanying them was Rahul Gandhi.
