Rahul Gandhi hugs Prime Minister Modi

New Delhi, July 20: Remarkable scenes unfurled in the Lok Sabha this afternoon as Rahul Gandhi's spoke during the 'no-confidence motion' debate in parliament. After ejecting a biting attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, Rahul Gandhi walked up to PM Modi and gave him a hug. 

The Congress presidents point forged chaos in the house. He said Rahul Gandhi said, "we are all victims of BJP's jumla strike." The closely-watched debate over the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government is underway in the Lok Sabha. 

The debate that will last for close to 7 hours was started off by Jayadev Galla of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) that moved the no-trust motion. The government will face the no-trust vote in parliament in the evening, after the test of endurance debate. 

Moments after the session began, Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal walked out of the hall, bringing down the adequate house strength to 514. PM Modi met BJP chief Amit Shah and ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari and Ananth Kumar soon before the debate began.

The government, its partners and the opposition parties will put forward their view of the performance of the Narendra Modi government. While the opposition will target the government over what it terms as failures. 

The BJP's oldest ally, the Shiv Sena, has decided to stay away from the no-trust vote and its lawmakers are not attending the debate. This morning, Modi tweeted calling for a "constructive, disruption-free" debate. 

"India will be watching us closely," he said. PM Modi will be watched carefully as his speech today is extensively seen as a launch pad for his campaign for the 2019 general elections. 

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