New Delhi: Some familiar faces, who were not part of the previous Lok Sabha, returned to the House taking oath as new members on Monday.
These include former Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterAkhilesh Yadav, DMK's top guns Dayanidhi Maran, A Raja and T R Balu, senior Congress leader from Goa Francisco Sardinha and former union minister Manish Tewari.
Union Ministers Amit Shah, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti Irani and DMK leader Kanizmohi, who were members of Rajya Sabha, became Lok Sabha members for the first time and attended the session on the opening day. Union Ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and S Jaishankar, who are not members of either House, were also present in the House.
While Akhilesh was seen sitting in one of the last rows, his father Mulayam Singh was seated in the first row. NCP leader Supriya Sule, who was also a Rajya Sabhamember till 2014, was seen giving a hug to Kanizmohi.
Before the House met for the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen greeting senior opposition leaders UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Mulayam Singh Yadav, TMC leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Kalyan Banerjee besides Maran and others.
Sule was also seen introducing two other NCP MPs to some of the Union Ministers besides Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and others.