Gandhi returns to Lok Sabha ahead of no-confidence

Congress lawmaker Rahul Gandhi re-entered the Lok Sabha on Monday, 137 days after his disqualification on 24 March, and a day ahead of the debate of the no-confidence motion that begins Tuesday, which he will likely initiate

- Saubhadra Chatterji

Gandhi's return followed the Lok Sabha secretariat's notification revoking his ouster.

Gandhi came to the Parliament complex before noon amid joyous celebrations of the Congress leaders who rushed to the main gate of the Parliament building to greet him as he got down from his SUV. The former Congress chief, who has been a member of Parliament since 2004, paid floral tributes at the Mahatma Gandhi statue before coming to the Lok Sabha. The house was adjourned a little later.

"After paying obeisance to Bapu, I entered the Lok Sabha," Gandhi wrote on his Facebook.

With the debate on the no-confidence motion starting on Tuesday in the Lok Sabha, Congress officials said Gandhi is likely to initiate the debate even as Congress' deputy leader of the house, Gaurav Gogoi, has moved the motion.

"Gogoi is entitled to offer his time to any other speaker. In Parliamentary lingo, we say he can give his microphone to another speaker," added one of them.