Tuesday was an action-packed day for Rahul Gandhi. After an attack on the government inside the Lok Sabha, Rahul, accompanied by several young party colleagues, showed up in the Central Hall for a cup of coffee and interacted with journalists. Though the media is barred from taking any pictures inside the Central Hall, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi clicked the Congress V-P ’s photo and tweeted it. Seems like the Congress is in a mood to celebrate now that Rahul is leading from the front. Congress’s counter As the Narendra Modi government plans to highlight its “success stories” to mark the completion of one year in office, the Congress is also gearing up for the occasion. The party is said to be preparing a booklet on what the government did not do in the last one year. This will be the second booklet to be issued by the Congress against the NDA government. Earlier, it had taken out a booklet on the alleged U-turns made by the BJP government. Sources said senior Congress leader Anand Sharma is putting together the latest booklet. Calming influence With Rahul Gandhi becoming aggressive and engaging with a BJP MP who was trying to heckle him during his speech on the Land Bill, a visibly nervous Sonia Gandhi turned to him and tried to say something to calm him down. “Mom, relax,” Rahul is learnt to have told her. No language barrier During Zero Hour in Lok Sabha, CPI(M) MP P K Shreemathi Teacher, from Kannur in Kerala, raised the issue of mentally and physically challenged children and the facilities available for them. However, she did not make her intervention in English or in her native language, but in Hindi, reading out from a sheet of paper. In a bid to encourage her, opposition members thumped their desks in appreciation when she concluded her speech. Unshaken House Even as several parts of the country felt Tuesday’s earthquake, the Parliament remained unaffected. When the earthquake hit at 12.35 pm, the Lok Sabha was functioning smoothly, unruffled by the tremors as MPs raised a range of issues during Zero Hour. The House was adjourned only at 1.16pm. The Rajya Sabha, meanwhile, had been adjourned a little before the earthquake but MPs inside the Parliament complex did not seem to have felt the tremor.
