New Delhi: Parliament on Thursday witnessed bonhomie among members of treasury and opposition benches at the start of Winter Session, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi walking upto to meet opposition leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Mulayam Singh Yadav besides others in the Lok Sabha.
After exchanging pleasantries with his ministerial colleagues and NDA members, Modi walked across the other side and greeted Kharge, Yadav, TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, AIADMK leader M Thambidurai, RJD leader Jai Prakask Narayan Yadav and others.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi were not present in the House at the time when Modi went around.
Modi, Yadav and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi were also seen discussing something and then had a hearty laugh.
The Prime Minister also greeted senior BJP leader L K Advani, who along with Joshi and two other leaders had recently attacked the party leadership after the debacle in Bihar.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and a few other BJP leaders too walked upto the opposition benches to exchange pleasantries.
In the Rajya Sabha, leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also walked across to the opposition benches and greeted all opposition leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sharad Yadav, Anand Sharma, Sitaram Yechury and Mayawati.
The government stands cornered in the Upper House in the absence of a majority where a united opposition has blocked several key legislation, including the GST Bill.
Government is keen to get the pending Bills passed in Rajya Sabha and has expressed readiness to discuss and iron out differences with the opposition.
