Narendra Modi sits through marathon debate on Constitution in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi sat in the Lok Sabha through the entire day's proceedings as the House saw an animated discussion on the Constitution on Thursday.

Modi, on the first day of the Winter session, was seen intently listening to the speeches and taking notes during the proceedings which started at 11 AM and concluded at around 7.15 pm. There was lunch recess for about an hour.

Among those who spoke were Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Congress in the House Mallikarjun Kharge besides leaders from various other parties.

Kharge took note of the Prime Minister's long presence in the House remarking that he has created a sort of "record".

Modi will be speaking on the debate at its conclusion today.

Earlier before the proceedings began, the Prime Minister walked up to opposition leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, AIADMK leader M Thambidurai and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav to greet them.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi were not present in the House at that time.

PM Modi, Mr Yadav and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi were then seen discussing something and having a hearty laugh.

The Prime Minister also greeted senior BJP leader LK Advani, who along with Mr Joshi and two other leaders had recently attacked the party leadership after the debacle in Bihar.

The discussion on 'Commitment to Constitution' was organised to mark 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution.

The Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949 and came into force on January 26, 1950.