Lok Sabha seating: Amit Shah, Smriti Irani get seats beside PM Modi
Congress leader and MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi has retained his seat in the second row of the Opposition benches.
New Delhi: Home minister Amit Shah, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and women and child development minister Smriti Irani — all first time Lok Sabha MPs — have been allotted the front row of the Lower House. They will share space with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav have retained their front row seats in the Opposition benches.
According to Parliament sources, the seat divisions were allotted on Wednesday.
Congress leader and MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi has retained his seat in the second row of the Opposition benches.
Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Sadananda Gowda, Narendra Singh Tomar, Arjun Munda and Arvind Sawant have also got seats in the first row. The Prime Minister has a reserved corner seat to the right of the Speaker.
From the opposition parties, Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and DMK leader T R Baalu were also allocated seats in the front row. Among the bigger parties, leaders of JD(U), Trinamool Congress and YSR CP have also got front seats. The prime minister has a reserved corner seat to the right of the Speaker. Rajnath Singh, considered the senior most minister in the cabinet, will retain his seat adjacent to him. One seat in the front row has been kept vacant for the deputy speaker, who is yet to be elected.