Lok Sabha Speaker expresses displeasure at Rahul's hugplomacy

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Friday expressed her displeasure over Congress President Rahul Gandhi hugging Prime Minister Narendra Modi inside Lok Sabha, saying the gesture diminished the decorum of the House.

"Even I did not like it. There is a decorum (that we attach) to the Prime Minister's post. Inside the House, sitting in that seat, he is not Narendra Modi but the Prime Minister of India," she said.

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The Speaker's observation came soon after the Lok Sabha was reconvened after a brief adjournment during Home Minister Rajnath Singh's speech.

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Resuming his speech, Rajnath Singh said that some people had started the "chipko (hug) movement" inside the House.

Taking a cue from this, Mahajan intervened saying even she did not what Rahul Gandhi had done.

"You (Congress members) might have liked it but I did not. And especially the way he (Rahul Gandhi) winked after hugging the Prime Minister," she said, adding: "It is upto us to maintain the decorum of this House."

Mahajan said that Gandhi was like her son but she also deemed it her duty as a mother to polish his manners and etiquette.

Earlier in the day, after tearing into the BJP-led government in his speech during the no-confidence motion, Gandhi walked across to the ruling benches and hugged Modi, taking everyone in the Lok Sabha by surprise.

After recovering from an apparent shock moment, the Prime Minister called Gandhi back towards him and the two shook hands. He patted Gandhi on his back and exchanged a word or two with him, smilingly.