No pleasantries exchanged as Modi, Rahul attend event

New Delhi, December 13

Two days after the Congress wrested three Hindi heartland states from the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were a short distance from each other at a function in Parliament on Thursday but did not speak.

The two leaders were in Parliament for an event to pay tribute to the martyrs of the 2001 Parliament attack.

Modi was seen exchanging greetings with his predecessor and Congress leader Manmohan Singh.

Union minister Vijay Goel and Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale shook hands with the Congress president.

Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, BJP veteran LK Advani and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were among the others present at the event.

They showered petals on portraits of the martyrs killed in the attack this day 17 years ago.

On December 13, 2001, five heavily armed gunmen had stormed the parliament complex and opened fire. Five Delhi Police personnel, a woman constable of the Central Reserve Police Force, two members of the Parliament Watch and Ward Staff, a gardener and a cameraman had lost their lives in the attack.

The Congress won the elections in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, all ruled by the BJP.  The votes were counted on Tuesday. PTI