Prabhunath and Sonia exchange greetings in LS

New Delhi: Prabhunath Singh, a known detractor of Sonia Gandhi till recently, on Monday entered Lok Sabha, but this time under the leadership of Lalu Prasad, a known admirer of the Congress President.

Before the House assembled for the day, Prasad was seen taking Singh to Gandhi, who was seated in the front row of the Treasury Benches, to greet her. Prasad appeared to have told Gandhi that Singh, who was till recently in the JD(U), is now a changed man. This was clear from the way Gandhi smiled after accepting Singh`s greetings. Singh`s victory from Maharajganj constituency in Bihar is seen as a big jolt to JD(U) as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had fielded one of his senior ministers against him. In the Lok Sabha polls in 2009, Singh was defeated as JD(U) candidate by Uma Shankar Singh of RJD, whose death caused the recent by-poll. Prabhunath Singh started his fresh innings in the Lok Sabha today by pleading with Speaker Meira Kumar that Bhojpuri be made an official language under the Eighth Schedule. He said he had put a request that he be allowed to take oath in Bhojpuri but has been given a Hindi script. The Speaker asked him to take oath in Hindi to which he sarcastically remarked, "I will do that. I know to read in Hindi." PTI