When Modi, Sonia came face-to-face in Parliament

Modi greeted Sonia Gandhi by saying “Namaste”, and in her response, the Congress leader also greeted the Prime Minister with folded hands…reports Asian Lite News

The relationship between the ruling BJP and the principal opposition party Congress has been quite bitter in the last few years, with both parties slamming each other at regular intervals over a number of issues.

The scenario, however, looked a bit different for a change on Sunday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the interim president of Congress Sonia Gandhi came face-to-face in the Parliament.

Both leaders faced each other at the Central Hall of Parliament House on the occasion of the wreath laying ceremony organised on the birth anniversary of Father of the Nation — Mahatma Gandhi, and late former Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri.

PM Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh offered garlands on the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

After a while, Sonia Gandhi also proceeded to put garland on the portrait of the two departed leaders.

Modi greeted Sonia Gandhi by saying “Namaste”, and in her response, the Congress leader also greeted the Prime Minister with folded hands.

Despite the exchange of greetings, a tinge of tension was visible.

Several group photographs were also clicked in which both PM Modi and Sonia Gandhi were also present but none of them neither communicated with anyone not made any eye contacts.

Later, both Rajnath Singh and Sonia Gandhi greeted each other with a “Namaste”.

Bharat Jodo Yatra

Sonia Gandhi will join Bharat Jodo Yatra on October 6 in Karnataka’s Mandya district, a top source told ANI on Sunday.

It appears that Congress is trying to rejuvenate the party ahead of the Assembly elections in several States and 2024 Lok Sabha polls as Congress presidential elections will be held on October 17 in which Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge are in a direct fight while Gandhis have opted out of the race.

She is expected to leave for Karnataka on Monday afternoon and will reach the Mysore district.

Sonia Gandhi will stay in Madikeri town of Kodagu district for two days before joining the Yatra.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also be joining the Yatra a day after Sonia Gandhi will join it, the source added.

Although Priyanka Gandhi’s program is yet to be finalised, she was expected to join the yatra earlier but due to some reasons she couldn’t join it, the sources said.

It will be the first time when all three Gandhis will be present in the Bharat Jodo Yatra which started from Kanyakumari on September 7 and has travelled from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and will cover 511 kilometres of the area in 21 days.

Sonia Gandhi recently travelled abroad for her medical checkup but during this period she lost her mother too.

Now the public appearance of all three Gandhis will be witnessed amid the schedule of the Congress president election and none of the Gandhis are fighting the poll. (IANS/ANI)

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