On the very first day of the Monsoon Session on Monday, in a rare gesture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went forward to greet Congress president Sonia Gandhi inside the Lok Sabha. Before the commencement of the session, Prime Minister Modi stood up from his seat of the treasury bench and went to the side of the Opposition. Initially, the Congress president remained seated, but when she realised that the Prime Minister is coming to her side, she immediately stood up. The Prime Minister was seen greeting Mrs Gandhi with folded hands, which was promptly reciprocated by the congress president. After Mrs Gandhi, the PM greeted Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and other leaders seated opposite to treasury benches with a similar gesture. The Central government has given top priority for passing much-waited GST bill in this session. So the ruling party MPs are quite hopeful that this time some understanding will be reached between the treasury benches and the main Opposition. When asked, the Congress president refused to divulge the nature of the talks, but her cryptic reply was “it was a courtesy meeting”.
